Norwich City 2-2 Preston North End: Teemu Pukki on target as fans return to Carrow Road
- Published
Teemu Pukki scored for the first time in eight months for Norwich City
Przemyslaw Placheta rescued a point for Norwich as they drew with Preston in front of 1,000 fans at Carrow Road.
Preston took an early lead as Scott Sinclair sent Tim Krul the wrong way from the penalty spot after Ben Davies went down under an Oliver Skipp challenge from a corner.
Norwich were level 15 minutes later as Declan Rudd fumbled Teemu Pukki's near-post header, but Preston regained the lead when Darnell Fisher blasted in after Sinclair's shot was saved following a lovely passing move.
But Polish midfielder Placheta, a summer signing from Slask Wroclaw, fired home at the second attempt to delight the home fans at one of several Football League games piloting the return of supporters.
It was a first home point for relegated Norwich since they beat Leicester City 1-0 on 28 February as they maintained their unbeaten start to the league campaign, while Preston claimed their first point having lost at home to Swansea last week.
Norwich were one of the first Championship clubs to play in front of a crowd following the coronavirus pandemic
Norwich may well feel aggrieved in the manner they went behind as Skipp barely seemed to make contact with Davies as he went up to head a corner, but Preston fully deserved their interval lead after impressing in the opening period.
Pukki's equaliser from Xavi Quintilla's ball into the box was the Finland striker's first goal in 16 games - a run stretching back to City's 2-1 loss at Tottenham on 22 January - but Preston's midfield dominance was rewarded as Ben Pearson, Alan Browne and Ryan Ledson combined to set up the Lilywhites' second.
Both sides had chances to go ahead soon after the restart - Sean Maguire headed a Joe Rafferty cross narrowly wide for Preston while Max Aarons curled a long-range effort just wide two minutes later.
Norwich should have levelled midway through the second half, but Placheta shot over the bar from seven yards out with the goal gaping after Rudd had parried Adam Idah's low shot.
And Pukki had a chance to make it two wins from two in stoppage time, but Rudd made a superb save from close range after the striker had got on the end of Placheta's cross.
Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"The penalty decision against us was incredible for me, we missed unbelievable chances, an empty goal, then 2-2 to score the equaliser that late in the game feels definitely like a valuable point.
"It was important in our last Championship campaign to score late goals and to turn games, and to have this mental attitude after a difficult finish of the season is remarkable.
"The odds were against us when Placheta missed his chance in front of an empty goal from six yards, sometimes you think it's one of those days, but our supporters kept us going and I liked the attitude of my lads that we kept going, equalised late and then brought a third striker on and tried to take the risk."
On the return of supporters to Carrow Road:
"It was noisier than I expected if I'm honest, I didn't expect that they would have such an influence on us and I'm not sure if it would have been that easy to still keep going after so many setbacks in this game.
"But even when we were down 2-1 and missed a few chance they kept us going and were a major influence today and many compliments for them, it was great to have them back.
"I heard that everyone was quite disciplined and everything worked quite well, that's our first feedback and a first step and hopefully we can have all the other supporters very soon."
Preston North End manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I thought we did enough to win the game, I thought we were the better side for a lot of the match.
"I'm frustrated because I thought there were a couple of decisions in the second half that should have gone our way.
"I'm really pleased with their effort levels, really pleased with performances and if we perform as well as that and leave everything that we did on the pitch most weeks we'll be in great shape.
"It's not often you come down here feeling aggrieved that you haven't won the game, because they are a good side in the Championship and have put in a lot of investment in the summer, but I thought we were certainly more than a match for them today."