Leeds United 0-2 Norwich City

Jonny Howson joined Norwich from Leeds in January 2012

• Norwich on 82 points, Bournemouth have 83

• Third-placed Boro a point behind Canaries

• Norwich face Boro next at Carrow Road

• Howson has now scored eight goals this season

Norwich remain only a point behind Championship leaders Bournemouth courtesy of a deserved win at Leeds.

Jonny Howson scored the opener against his former club with a neat finish from inside the box.

City could have led earlier in the game but, after Howson was fouled in the box by Liam Cooper, Graham Dorrans hit the bar with the resulting penalty.

But Dorrans got his goal - a low finish in the final minute - to keep the Canaries firmly in the promotion hunt.

Graham Dorrans made up for his penalty miss (above) by scoring his second goal for Norwich

Alex Neil's side have now won 11 of their last 14 matches and four in a row to leave them second, although they could lose that position if Watford beat Nottingham Forest by more than three goals on Wednesday.

Howson has contributed well during that run and it was perhaps inevitable that he would come to the fore against the hometown club for whom he played 226 games before moving to Carrow Road in January 2012.

He was involved in the penalty incident that led to Dorrans's first-half miss and was then on hand to receive a pass from Nathan Redmond in the box before prodding a calm finish past Marco Silvestri - a goal he greeted with an almost apologetic celebration to the home fans.

Leeds responded with Scott Wootton cutting in and shooting, but Ruddy denied him, with the goalkeeper doing so more spectacularly to frustrate Alex Mowatt in the dying minutes with a diving save.

In the final minute, Dorrans made amends for his penalty miss by smashing home following a cross from Cameron Jerome to ensure Norwich left West Yorkshire with another vital three points.

Norwich manager Alex Neil:

"It was a crucial win. We always work on the basis that our rivals are going to win.

"We have a job to do and we have come away from two tough fixtures - Bolton and Leeds away - with maximum points.

"The first goal was the crucial point in the match.

"I wasn't happy with some things in the first half but after the goal especially, we were the better side and we deserved to win."

Leeds manager Neil Redfearn:

"There is a reason Norwich are second in the table. The difference was the quality of the strikers and the amount of money they have outlaid to bring their players in.

"For long spells we stifled them, and we could perhaps have done a bit more when we broke on them, but, for large spells, I thought that we played well."