Match report: Norwich City 3 Huddersfield Town 0

Dec 21 2009 by Mel Booth, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TOWN got a harsh lesson in how to punish mistakes and take chances.

Lee Clark’s side completelyoutclassed Norwich in the first half to warm their 1,000-strong army of fans at a freezing Carrow Road.

But they were made to pay dearly for not finding the net as Paul Lambert’s men stepped up a gear in the second half and underlined why they are third with ice-cool finishes from Wes Hoolahan (57th minute), Chris Martin (74) and Gary Doherty 11 minutes from time.

While Town had set the tempo before the break and could easily have been one (maybe even two) goals ahead, Norwich had extra urgency in the second half with midfield substitute Stephen Hughes making a telling and valuable contribution.

Whereas the home side had been content to let Town have the ball in their own half during the first 45 minutes – and they had been put on the rack for doing so – that was certainly not the case in the second half and that additional pressure on the man in possession paid dividends as Town made some sloppy mistakes to concede.

And Norwich punished them.

Firstly, the dangerous Hoolahan took advantage 12 minutes after the re-start after Hughes forced a hasty, misdirected pass from skipper Peter Clarke, who had been a tower of strength until that point.

Suddenly Town were stretched in their own half and Norwich, flooding forward, had a man advantage, but Hoolahan dipped a shoulder, went on his own and beat Alex Smithies with a crisp, low, angled left-foot shot.

It illustrated why Hoolahan – so well marshalled by the returning Jim Goodwin in the first half – is rated one of the best players in League I and, only a couple of minute later, he helped set up Darel Russell for a deflected shot which rolled only inches wide of the target.

Town then settled and manager Clark had striker Theo Robinson and versatile Tom Clarke ready on the touchline to introduce when the game took a decisive turn.

Before the substitutes could get on with Town only a goal behind, Norwich pounced for their second as Peter Clarke failed to intercept a cross-field pass and Chris Martin got wrong side of Joe Skarz to be one-on-one with Smithies.

The 21-year-old made no mistake with a cool finish into the corner – no mean feat as he’d earlier missed an open goal (52 minutes) from Hoolahan’s gift-wrapped pass across the six-yard box.