Norwich City 3-1 Aston Villa

Josh Murphy's stunning opener bounced in off the post

Aston Villa's automatic promotion hopes were dealt a blow as they fell to a Championship defeat at Norwich City.

Winger Josh Murphy's superb, bending 25-yard effort on the stroke of half-time put the Canaries ahead.

Dennis Srbeny made it 2-0 from close range after the break when he collected Harrison Reed's clever dinked pass.

Jack Grealish pulled a goal back for Villa with a crisp low strike, but James Maddison fired into the corner to seal the win for Daniel Farke's side.

Villa remain in fourth, seven points behind second-placed Cardiff, having lost three of their past five matches and look destined for a play-off place.

However, Steve Bruce's team have a chance to claw back some of the deficit on Tuesday when they face the Bluebirds at Villa Park.

• Relive Norwich's win over Aston Villa

In what has been an ultimately disappointing first season under Farke, Norwich put on one of their best performances of the campaign despite having little to play for.

Murphy lit up an otherwise dour first half when he jinked in off the right and placed a curling strike into the top corner with his left foot which gave Villa goalkeeper Sam Johnstone no chance.

The second half at Carrow Road was in complete contrast to the first, with both teams pushing forward in search of goals.

German striker Srbeny scored his first goal for the Canaries since signing in January with a composed first-time finish.

Grealish's strike proved to be only a consolation as Maddison made sure of victory from 12 yards, while Srbeny and substitute Wes Hoolahan had further chances to stretch their lead.

Norwich move to within eight points of the play-offs, but would realistically have to win their remaining five matches and hope other teams slip up to sneak into the top six.

Norwich City manager Daniel Farke: "I was critical of my players from the second half against QPR so it is only fair I praise them today. It was an excellent performance against a team with a lot of good players, a really good response from the lads.

"We scored three and could have had five or six, and it follows on from Reading at home, when we could have had six of seven, and Fulham when we gave a good performance against a really good side. I think this shows we are heading in the right direction."

Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce: "We were poor, really poor, and we didn't do nearly enough to get anything from the game. There was no zip to our play, the defending for the second two Norwich goals was unbelievably poor and we absolutely got what we deserved, which was nothing.

"The players have let the supporters down - and they have also let themselves and the team down.

"It's really disappointing the way we have fallen away over the past four games, taking just four points. That's not promotion form, or even play-off form. We have failed to perform when we really needed to and handed the momentum to others, which is really disappointing."