Swansea City 0-1 Norwich City: Teemu Pukki's first-minute goal sees Canaries triumph

Teemu Pukki prods in his seventh goal of the season to put Norwich ahead

Norwich City climbed to fourth in the Championship as Teemu Pukki's first-minute goal secured victory over Russell Martin's Swansea City.

Pukki's close-range effort went in via the underside of the crossbar and Norwich held on for a third win in their last five league games.

Dean Smith's side were made to work for the points, but are finding some form after a six-game winless streak.

Swansea's first home defeat since mid-September sees them drop to 10th.

It was a disappointing afternoon for former Norwich captain Martin - a three-time promotion winner at Carrow Road - whose team are without a win in six Championship games.

Swansea were made to pay for their slow start as they asked questions of their opponents but could not find a path to goal.

Martin had said he did not know how he would feel as he faced his old club for the first time since being booed off in the last of more than 300 Norwich appearances five years ago.

Presumably, frustration was the overwhelming emotion as Swansea's early sloppiness handed Norwich the initiative.

After the month-long World Cup break, Norwich needed only 58 seconds to go in front - and the goal might even have come earlier than it did.

Joel Latibeaudiere's loose pass gifted a chance to Pukki only for Ben Cabango's double challenge to save the home side.

But from the Gabriel Sara corner which followed, Kenny McLean's flick found Pukki unmarked at the back post and his lofted shot found the net with the help of the woodwork.

Swansea's Ryan Manning gets a shot away despite Max Aarons' attempted block

Swansea could have drawn level swiftly, but Joel Piroe's snapshot was blocked by Grant Hanley before Jamie Paterson's far-post effort was saved by Angus Gunn.

There were opportunities for Norwich to stretch their lead on the counter-attack before the break, with Sara denied by another fine Cabango block before Josh Sargent pulled a shot narrowly wide of the target.

Swansea played with more control as the contest wore on, and eventually carved another sight of goal when Latibeaudiere picked out Kyle Naughton only for his header to be pushed over by Gunn.

Piroe poked a volley wide from Ryan Manning's free-kick, then headed tamely at Gunn.

Swansea kept pushing until the end, but the Norwich rearguard kept on the finding the answers.

Swansea head coach Russell Martin:

"I feel sick to be honest. We've paid for a mad two minutes at the start of the game and a lack of conviction, composure in the box. We created so many chances today.

"A few of their players came off the pitch and apologised which probably tells you the story of the game. I don't think they felt they deserved to win and I don't think we deserved to lose.

"You can't away with conceding a goal like that to a team that possesses a lot of really top players.

"The amount of detail that went into set-pieces, and it panned out exactly as they were shown, so that's the frustrating bit. This season has been interspersed with moments like that.

"We played against a team that's going to be right up there and I thought we were better than them."

Norwich head coach Dean Smith:

"I was really pleased with what we did without the ball today. That's something we have been speaking about an awful lot over the last month.

"I have seen Swansea play through a number of teams. My message to the lads was that we need to be more disciplined, more organised without the ball. Today I felt we were.

"We created the three big chances first half. Second half we tried to hang on a bit rather than be more progressive. But I said to the lads, 1-0 is my favourite result.

"I don't remember Gunny making any big saves. The clean sheet is a big boost to all the players. They can take pride in a real team performance without the ball."