Ipswich Town 0 Norwich City 1

NORFOLK pride, mauled in a 5-0 defeat at Portman Road last February, was restored last night with a gritty victory not predicted by the form book.

Having conceded five goals again at Crystal Palace on Saturday, Norwich defended far more stoutly to end a run of three wins which had propelled Ipswich to third place in the table.

Craig Bellamy, a hero for Wales in Denmark recently, again headed a decisive goal, this time after 52 minutes.

Under pressure early on, Norwich took 23 minutes to launch a dangerous attack. Darren Eadie, set free by Erik Fuglestad's clever pass, crossed invitingly from the left and Iwan Roberts managed to head back across goal, injuring himself in the process.

A minute later Mark Venus's careless defensive header fell for Eadie, who could not quite get sufficient power into his own header.

The home side, while not playing well, could point to good efforts on either side of those incidents by David Johnson, driving wide of the far post, and Matt Holland, whose even fiercer shot was parried by Andy Marshall.

A similar pattern emerged after half-time, with Ipswich immediately pressing strongly, only to be found wanting in defence and this time conceding a goal.

Venus threatened with a free-kick and then a long drive, but was at fault as the much smaller Bellamy stole in front of him to head past Richard Wright. Eadie had begun the swift counter-attack with a darting run before feeding Fuglestad for a perfect cross.

Ipswich then made an attacking substitution, introducing Jonathan Hunt a day after his loan signing from Derby; Norwich made a defensive one and the tone was set for the remaining half-hour.

Daily Telegraph