Norwich City 1-1 Blackburn Rovers: Leaders move another step closer to promotion despite being held at home
- Published
Norwich had been hoping to record a 10th straight league win to equal a club record that has stood since 1985-86
Championship leaders Norwich moved another step closer to promotion despite being held by a determined Blackburn side.
The hosts had looked on course to equal a 35-year-old record of 10 consecutive league wins when Scotland midfielder Kenny McLean drove a low effort into the bottom-left corner.
However, the visitors levelled 13 minutes from time when Sam Gallagher headed in Harvey Elliott's back-post free-kick.
Norwich stay eight points clear at the top of the table, while Blackburn remain 15th.
Daniel Farke's side came into the contest seeking to emulate the record set by Ken Brown's side in 1985-86, also in the second tier.
A lively start saw Todd Cantwell's deflected effort clip the outside of the post and Rovers goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski brilliantly turn an Emi Buendia effort on to the bar.
But Rovers, whose season has petered out after a promising first half to the campaign gave as good as they got with John Buckley twice testing Tim Krul.
And while Teemu Pukki, Marco Stiepermann and Buendia had opportunities to win it for Norwich, Tony Mowbray's side matched them for long periods and were worthy of their point.
Aside from the result, Norwich will also be concerned that Greek left-back Dimitrios Giannoulis was withdrawn with a head injury in the first half and that fellow defender Ben Gibson left the field on a stretcher late on after appearing to injure his ankle.
Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke:
"In the last weeks we were used to winning football games so when you concede a relatively late equaliser the first feeling is disappointment, especially as we had great chances after to win the game.
"We are not dancing on the table after this draw, but we can live with this. We have to wait for the assessments - I think he [Ben Gibson] rolled his ankle. We hope it is not too bad, but it didn't look great. With Dimitrios [Giannoulis] it was concussion."
On the international break: "I'm scared because you never know what the outcome will be in the end when they come back because they have to travel around.
"It seems crazy, living in the pandemic it is not possible to see your family, sometimes your children or your parents or grandparents, and we send our national team players away.
"If it is competitive games I can accept it. For friendlies it is difficult to accept. I think it is a questionable decision."
Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray:
"We came away with a point. If anything we are disappointed it was not more. On the balance of play we more than deserved a point.
"I think what jumps out is their quality in the final third against ours. They have international footballers and players who have played in the Premier League.
"We have youngsters learning the game, but that's where we are as a club trying to grow. If we had their strikeforce we might have scored a few more goals."