Burnley inched closer to automatic promotion from the Championship as they reclaimed top spot with a 2-1 win over Norwich on Friday night.
Hannibal Mejbri and Jaidon Anthony scored for the Clarets, who were on course to match an all-time Football League record with a 30th clean sheet of the season until Jack Stacey scored inside the final 15 minutes.
Scott Parker’s side sit three points ahead of second-placed Leeds – who face Preston at Elland Road on Saturday – and five ahead of third-placed Sheffield United, who face Plymouth at Home Park. Both matches are live on Sky Sports+ at 12.30pm.
Burnley were faced with a low block at Turf Moor but they quickly showed their ability to beat one. Josh Cullen found Hannibal Mejbri with a glorious ball from deep that the Tunisia international chested down and fired past Angus Gunn, despite being flanked by a pair of defenders.
The visitors were punished heavily for giving the ball away cheaply 10 minutes later, as Josh Brownhill took over possession and teed up Jaidon Anthony, who had all the space in the world to cut the ball onto his right and fire a shot that hit Shane Duffy and wrong-footed Gunn before crossing the line.
It could even have been three before the break, with Hannibal arriving to meet a square ball and crash a shot off the outside of the left-hand post.
The renewed vigour for Norwich, brought by Josh Sargent’s introduction and a switch to a back four at the break, waned as the second half wore on, but a tense finale was set up when Kenny McLean’s header allowed Jack Stacey to tap in from close-range.
Nonetheless, despite conceding for just the 13th time this season, Burnley held on to win and preserve their status as one of only two teams in the top four divisions of English football – along with Birmingham – yet to lose at home this season.
Parker pleased with another win and week to prep for Easter fixture
Burnley head coach Scott Parker:
“I’ve been involved in this division many a time and games often do turn out like that, with a one-goal swing, and sometimes they can become a little bit edgy.
“Full credit to the team because I thought we were superb first half, dominated every phase of our game in terms of our positioning and attacking threat.
“We set a tone about us today which I was immensely pleased with. What I asked of the team was a huge challenge; we’re coming out of being the wrong side of a fixture list this week and we’ve not had a lot of time to prep. What I asked of them, I knew it was going to be demanding on us in terms of energy and legs and the boys executed it very well.
“We came into tonight’s game, first and foremost, wanting to win the game. We’re at the back end of the season where three points are crucial.
“We’ll be disappointed about the way we’ve conceded tonight, from a set-play, where we’ve been pretty rock-solid.
“But I’m pleased we came away with the objective; walking into this stadium, there was energy, enthusiasm and we showed our quality. Fundamentally, make sure we came away with three points – and that’s what we’ve managed to do.
“We box this one off, we have four left. We now go to Watford. I’m pleased we’ve got a week to prep and some more time to do some work.”
Thorup: We wanted to open up in second half
Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup:
“We hoped we would look better in the second half because we planned the changes, so we knew we were going to do them, latest, after 60 minutes.
“We knew we would try to play a little bit slower, more compact game in the first half where we could concede not too many chances, then in the second half, see if we could open up a little bit. The plan was not to be 2-0 down before we made that change.
“The first goal was not good enough. We didn’t recognise the ball in behind well enough or early enough and we didn’t prepare with our body shape and position. That simply has to be better. The second goal is a difficult one to avoid.”
