Match Report 2002-2003
Saturday 26 October, 2002, Division One
Norwich City At Valley Parade
Reiding, righting and arithmetic
As far way from home as you can be. Rejected by Rotherham. Two months in the reserves at a bare Odsal stadium. Not perfect preparation but perfect for a Paul Reid, the new old name at Valley Parade.
It is not so long since Norwich City rolled into Valley Parade and won on the way to being within penalties of the Premiership. At kick off and final whistle today they are second in the league and still on course for the big time and then as now one can only scratch head and ask how.
Norwich City are a monumentally ordinary team. They were better today than last season and they have some spirit but one could not see how the visitors could live in the top division. For forty minutes they had the kind of chances that team who do go up take, they did not take them and suffered when a corner, one of few City had in the opening half, was cleared to debut boy Paul Reid who returned like an amaram missile into the top corner of Robert Green's goal. It was a pure pleasure moment.
Pleasure for Reid mostly. He enjoyed his goal as much as I have seen anyone in claret and amber, his mazy run between his team mates remind one of Chris Waddle after that goal at Everton.
Reid was in for Paul Evans who injured in midweek in the reserves, a punishment for his fall out with Wayne Jacobs at Sheffield Wednesday last week. Evans and Stephen Warnock ran the midfield for City today, or attempted to. They had something of a dynamic between them. Reid broke with the ball and Warnock enforced on top of the back four. I criticised the Liverpool man for his average displays last week, this was more like it. Warnock looked like the prospect the Anfield club think he is.
Many of the City players could point to marked improvements in their displays. Nicky Law had said that the players owed the fans a performance and a performance we got. City were all wrong last week, this week they were righted.
Nicky Law had switched back to the 442 formation that had got the better results this season although Andy Myers struggled to pick up his role at first but the visitors lacked the width to test him and Gus Uhlenbeek. Robert Molenaar and Mark Bower struggled with Iwan Roberts and David Neilsen but ultimately it was a struggle they won.
Law's big surprise of the day was the exclusion of Michael Proctor, making his last appearance for City, to play Ashley Ward and Danny Cadamarteri. Law was rewarded by the strike pair putting in excellent performances. Both Ward and Cadamarteri should score more goals and both will look back at Robert Green saves that stopped the game from going 3-0 and wonder how they could do more to score.
Cadamarteri had burst through, his pace troubled the visitors all afternoon, and he saw his shot saved by Green's leg. Ward has got on the end of a superb move and in that traditional Ashley Ward way should have scored but once again Green made the save rather than Ward missing.
City's were two up then in part thanks to Ward's ability to hold the ball up. A good move down the right saw Ward get the ball with is back to goal in the box and hold it long enough for Reid to come bursting into the box and finish off the far post.
City should have had three or four but Nigel Worthington rallied his troops by going to the 433 he prefers at Carrow Road. Nicky Law decided that he would keep the 442, holding his game plan firm, and so cut to the grandstand finish.
City had left Zema Abbey unmarked to head home at a corner with twenty minutes left and the tall sub had headed home. Norwich piled on the pressure and it looked like City would capitulate. Nicky Law inexplicably took off defensive left winger Wayne Jacobs for Michael Proctor to put Danny Cadamarteri on the left flank. Proctor had flashed a couple chances at goal before the four minutes left board went up. Norwich had corner after corner and sure enough Steen Nedegaard ran at not defender Danny Cadamarteri and took a tumble. From the far side it looked like a dive and outside the box but then again I thought that Adam Murray of Derby deserved the red card he was let off with and that Cadders had not elbowed that Burnley guy. I am stopping even trying to guess or second guess refereeing decisions.
Iwan Roberts, Steve Banks. Banks saves the kick and then the rebound. It might have been harsh justice on Norwich but football is a game of simple arithmetic. Most goals wins and possession or missed chances have never gone it.
Steve Banks made it all the way to the kop end to take his applause and some made Paul Reid man of the match. Michael Proctor's name already fading from memory. Football is a fickle thing.
So City ran out 2-1 winners recording a first win in seven and a first win at Valley Parade since the victory that Proctor made his name in. That was 4-2 over Rotherham and they had an Australian trialist in the squad that they decided was not good enough.
Man of the Match
Paul Reid
Of course