Stoke City 0-0 Norwich City - Canaries keeper Angus Gunn helps close gap to play-off spots
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Angus Gunn has kept five Championship clean sheets this season
Goalkeeper Angus Gunn was instrumental in helping Norwich City close the gap to the play-off places to three points after a goalless draw at Stoke City.
After Josh Sargent wasted an early chance for Norwich, Gunn made three excellent saves in quick succession to frustrate Stoke in the first half.
He first denied Will Smallbone from close-range, before twice stopping Jacob Brown from putting the Potters ahead.
After the break, the inspired Gunn foiled Brown twice more and tipped a Tyrese Campbell effort over the bar to help the Canaries edge closer to sixth-placed Millwall, after they were beaten by Huddersfield.
In a game largely dominated by Stoke, Ben Pearson also lashed an effort into the side-netting on a frustrating afternoon which saw the hosts move up a place to 13th.
Potters boss Alex Neil made just one change from their midweek draw at Middlesbrough, with Morgan Fox coming in for the injured Dwight Gayle.
While Marquinhos was available for Norwich, having had his red card from Wednesday's draw with Huddersfield overturned, the winger dropped to the bench.
And with Adam Idah out injured, Teemu Pukki and Christos Tzolis were called upon from the start.
Tzolis almost crafted an early opener for the Canaries, sending Sargent through on goal, only for the American to drag his finish wide of the target.
Gunn, who has received a first Scotland call-up for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers, ensured it remained goalless at the break, keeping Smallbone out from close-range before going on to deny Brown from a back-post header and again by coming off his line to foil the forward.
Gunn's brilliant performance in goal for Norwich was undoubtedly exasperating for Brown, who had a last-minute header pushed away by a keeper who had a spell on loan with the Potters in the 2020-21 season.
Play-off chasing Norwich were well-contained throughout and were limited to a solitary shot on a target as they managed just 35% possession.
Stoke manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"I thought we were excellent, we limited them to very little. The one chance they did have in the first half was a foul for me - [Josh] Sargent tugs back Morgan Fox on his wrong side but I don't think that was only thing the officials got wrong today.
"We didn't lack for good opportunities, we just didn't finish them off and you've got to give their goalkeeper a bit of credit - he pulled off some really good saves. On another day we should score and win the game.
"I think the lads are disappointed today, albeit they should be really pleased with what they've served up.
"The fact the majority of fans stayed back and clapped them off the pitch sums up where we are at the moment - they can see the team gives everything they've got. "
Norwich head coach David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"I'm very pleased with the performance, especially the fighting spirit and togetherness. With the injury problems we've had, we really had to stick together and fight if we wanted to earn something and the players have done this.
"We had a very good opportunity to get the lead and obviously Stoke had some opportunities as well where Gunny [Angus Gunn] was fantastic.
"In the second half we had some good counter-moments which we were unfortunately not able to use.
"But we're looking forward to the last eight games and we will push as hard as we can to get into the play-offs."