Norwich match report - 23/09/06

Argyle 3 Norwich City 1

Doherty og 14. Earnshaw 94
Seip 47.
Norris 74.

Attn: 11,813

McCormick 7, Connolly 7, Seip 7, Doumbe 7, Capaldi 8, Norris 8, Wotton 7, Nalis 8, Buzsaky 7( Sawyer 7), Hayles 6 (Chadwick 6), SEB 7( Reid 5).

Subs not used: Summerfield, Djordjic.

Green and Whites v White and Greens.

At last, a home win, so this is how it feels like.

A superb team performance from Argyle saw off a poor Norwich side who were awful in defence.

Norwich wore what looked like Argyle's last seasons away kit. The only down side was the low crowd again and Earnshaw's undeserved late consolation goal.

Seip made his debut in place of Aljofree with Doumbe moving 10 yards to his left. Connolly also came back into the side and Barness was no where to be seen. Wotton was also restored to the starting line up.


Argyle had the first chance when SEB set up Wotton but his shot was straight at the keeper. SEB then had a chance of his own when his ample frame shrugged off two defenders, he got a shot away but it was pushed away by Gallacher for a corner. Capaldi took the resulting corner and up jumped Nalis, except he missed it and the ball sailed on to hit Norwich defender Doherty and bounce over the line. 1-0 to the Greens. That's the Argyle Greens.

A Capaldi cross found Norris who headed towards goal but his effort was cleared off the line. Norwich were prepared to give the Argyle wide men ( Capaldi, Buzsaky, Norris and Connolly ) plenty of room. So these four obliged with cross after cross coming in throughout the game.

Croft for Norwich had a chance when he beat Capaldi to a cross but he put his effort wide. Buzsaky then sent a vicious free kick that Gallacher could only punch away. Earnshaw then beat Doumbe to the ball in the area and from a difficult angle he tried to lob McCormick who back peddled enough to get a finger tip on the ball and send it away, just. Wotton had a quick free kick pushed away for yet another corner and to finish the half McVeigh shot wide following a free kick.

Half time and Djordjic's back to entertain us.

Argyle had the perfect start to the second half when a Capaldi corner found Seip, who headed in from 8 yards to score on his home debut. Capaldi's corners and Argyle's 5 foot tall players were troubling the Norwich defence.

Norwich then brought on Dublin as they switched to a 2 men up front. Hayles, who was struggling with a groin injury, was pulled off by Holloway and Chadwick came on. Soon after, the tiring Buzsaky went off with Sawyer coming on at left back and Capaldi moving forward into midfield.

Chadwick charged down a poor back pass, the Norwich keeper's clearance hit Chadwick but (un)luckily bounced clear of the goal for a goal kick. And then came the goal of the game. Norris picked up the ball ( play on, no hand ball ) just inside his own half and went on a lung bursting run through the Norwich static defence and placed a shot into the corner. 3-0. Game over. The Norwich fans now started chanting "Worthy out!"

Reid then came on for SEB and produced a real selfish cameo, refusing to pass to better placed players on several occasions. And then right at the death, with Argyle looking for their first clean sheet at home, Earnshaw wriggled free in the area, turned and shot past McCormick to make it 3-1. Totally undeserved.

So finally a win at Home Park. Norwich were awful but still had to be beaten. Norwich had the beast at the back that Argyle so crave, but Doherty was about as mobile as an aircraft carrier going up the Tamer! Sure he could head the ball but he couldn't cope with the movement of Argyle's front two, especially SEB. Something for us to think about. Argyle need a mobile beast, not just a brick shit house!

Hayles was very subdued, it looked like he picked up a groin injury early in the game. Buzsaky was just Buzsaky. Simply brilliant to simply frustrating. He still did a job for the team though. Capaldi had his best game for a long, long while. His corners and crossing was the key to winning this game. Indeed Argyle's crossing was excellent thoughout the game. Seip had a good game, he wasn't really tested during the first half because Norwich only played one striker but he coped well when Dublin came on. Seip is not the biggest but he attacks the ball well. Norris was just typical Norris again. Running, running and running but this time he added a goal to his game. Nalis is proving to be a very influential player for Argyle, calm and composed. Wotton had a good game but up come the groans when a pass is miss-placed.

The jury is still out on Reid for me. He never passed but just got his head down and ran and ran. If there was another striker in the squad I don't think Reid would get near the team. Still, he's only young.

Argyle did hit the high long ball during most of the first half, that doesn't work when Hayles and SEB are playing but changed tactics for the second half with shorter balls to feet.

We had another excellent ref, a pity some comments unrelated to football were made by fans near me when a decision went against Argyle.

MOM: Capaldi.