Norwich City pinched a vital point away at Stoke City in the Championship with a 2-2 draw on Monday to stay atop the standings, three points clear of second-placed Sheffield United in the automatic promotion places.
The Canaries haven’t been at the top of their game in the Championship in recent weeks and their ordinary run of form continued, as Daniel Farke’s side registered their fourth draw on a trot.
Nevertheless, Norwich inched closer to automatic promotion with another crucial point, and with the Canaries set to play Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa in their remaining two fixtures, the fans at Carrow Road have every reason to stay hopeful of their team winning the Championship and securing promotion back to the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Leeds United’s blip in a crucial stage of the season continued as the Peacocks fell prey to some giant-killing heroics from Brentford. The Bees defied the odds to beat Marcelo Bielsa’s side 2-0 on Monday to ensure that the Whites stayed 3rd in the standings, three points adrift of Sheffield United.
Norwich started off as the brighter of the two teams and Onel Hernandez blazed his effort wide off Emi Buendia’s corner from the right. Stoke started on the backfoot but Nathan Jones’ side settled into the game as time went by and created quite a few problems for the Norwich backline.
Hernandez, though, did score the opener from Jamaal Lewis’s cross in the 24th minute to put the visitors in the driver’s seat. However, Stoke drew level right after the interval, as Ashley Williams headed it off Thibaud Verlinden’s corner from the left. Tim Krul would have been expected to make the save but the Dutchman was a bit too late to react.
The Canaries needed some inspiration to get back in front and it was the super sub from the bench- Mario Vrancic, who made an instant impact after coming on.
Farke has shown a lot of confidence in the midfield pairing of Kenny McLean and Tom Trybull in recent weeks, forcing the likes of Vrancic and Moritz Leitner to settle for a place on the bench.
Vrancic strengthened his claims for a starting role by stealing the show with a superb free-kick in the 2-2 draw against Sheffield Wednesday last week but the manager was content to keep the Bosnian international on the bench once again.
Farke was forced to bring him on in the 54th minute as a replacement for Trybull, as the German had to be taken off due to an injury. Trybull had a good game in the first half but it was Vrancic, who made all the difference after coming on as a substitute.
The 29-year-old picked up the run of Teemu Pukki with a delightful chipped pass into the box from the side of his left foot and the Finnish international made it 2-1 in favour of the Canaries.
It wasn’t only the crucial assist that made Vrancic a hero off the bench. The 29-year-old held things together in the midfield with his distribution and showed good vision to pick out incisive passes, registering a total of 40 passes at an accuracy rate of 82.5, including 3 key passes and 2 successful long balls over the course of the 36 minutes that he was there on the pitch.
Vrancic did a fair job defensively as well, chipping in with 2 interceptions, 1 tackle and 1 clearance.
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Vrancic showcased his ability to produce game-changing moments for the second time in successive games and it remains to be seen whether Farke includes him in his starting eleven for the game against Blackburn.