Norwich City 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Steven Naismith scored his sixth goal of the season for Norwich

Norwich City eased the pressure on manager Alex Neil with victory over 10-man Wolves at Carrow Road.

City went ahead when Jonny Howson's shot struck the bar and Steven Naismith steered in the rebound.

Helder Costa equalised from the penalty spot for Wolves after Ivo Pinto had pushed over Matt Doherty.

Robbie Brady's spot-kick then restored Norwich's lead after keeper Carl Ikeme was sent off for fouling Wes Hoolahan before Howson volleyed a late third.

• Saturday's EFL action as it happened

Wolves boss Paul Lambert had enjoyed wins in all three of his previous returns to Carrow Road since leaving in June 2012, but the outcome turned on Ikeme's disputed red card, with the visitors claiming Hoolahan had dived.

Norwich, who went into the game with nine defeats in 14 matches, created a number of chances, with Ikeme clawing away Howson's first-half shot and Cameron Jerome hitting the post.

The result extended Wolves' poor recent record against Norwich, having beaten the Canaries just once in their last nine league meetings.

Norwich's ninth home win of the season lifted them to 10th, five points outside the play-off places, while Wanderers dropped to 18th.

Norwich City manager Alex Neil:

"It was a performance with a real edge to it, a Championship edge. It reminded me of some of the performances we put in a couple of years ago when we got promoted.

"The lads rolled their sleeves up and got stuck in, making tackles and winning second balls. The centre-halves were winning their headers, the lads up front were making a real nuisance of themselves and that is what you want to see from your team.

"To be honest, we have being playing pretty well of late and this was a continuation of that. We lost at Rotherham last week, but I believe we would have won that one too if we had kept 11 men on the pitch.

Wolves head coach Paul Lambert:

"The first 20 minutes we were slow and didn't do what we normally do but after the break we got better, got the penalty and looked more like ourselves.

"At 1-1 that game could have gone anyway. We've been unfortunate we've lost our goalkeeper and the penalty.

"There are some good points, some bad points. You're beaten and disappointed, but I can't fault the effort."