Borja Sainz took his tally to 15 goals in 19 Norwich City appearances this season
Borja Sainz's hat-trick saw Norwich City end their seven-game winless run and inflict a record loss on Plymouth Argyle boss Wayne Rooney as they won 6-1 at Carrow Road.
Sainz gave the hosts the perfect start as he scored inside the opening two minutes and Norwich could have been 5-0 up inside the first 15 minutes as they dominated the game before the Spaniard calmly made it 2-0.
Mustapha Bundu gave the visitors hope as he pulled a goal back against the run of play shortly before half-time.
Shane Duffy restored the two-goal lead with a header soon after the restart before Sainz superbly curled in his third from the corner of the 18-yard box.
The rout was completed when Norwich scored twice in two minutes towards the end - Anis Slimane blasted in from the edge of the box before Ante Crnac took advantage of a defensive slip.
The win sees Norwich move up to ninth place in the Championship, five points off the play-off places.
Argyle - whose previous worst loss under Rooney was a 5-0 defeat with 10 men at Cardiff City last month - drop to 20th position, two points away from the relegation zone.
Injury-hit Argyle suffered a further blow when top scorer Morgan Whittaker was ruled out with a toe injury to add to the long-term absences of captain Joe Edwards, goalkeeper Connor Hazard and forwards Muhamed Tijani and Ibrahim Cissoko.
Norwich - who had not won since 5 October - started superbly as Sainz fired in from eight yards after Crnac and Emiliano Marcondes had exchanged passes on the edge of the area - Sainz looked offside as the ball was played forward but replays showed it was Argyle left-back Matthew Sorinola who played the ball into his path.
Four minutes later Shane Duffy managed to side-foot a flicked-on corner over the Argyle bar from two yards out, while Sainz twice saw efforts go over after taking advantage of Argyle mistakes while Crnac had a low cross-shot strike the base of the Argyle post.
Rooney - who has yet to guide Plymouth to an away win all season - cut a forlorn figure in the dugout as his side gave the ball away under the pressure of Norwich's press.
Crnac should have doubled the lead after 15 minutes but his unmarked downwards header was superbly kept out by Dan Grimshaw, although Canaries fans only had to wait two more minutes for their second having had more than 80% possession in the first quarter of the game
It came when Marcondes' precision through-ball from midfield set Sainz away and the Spaniard calmly slotted home after beating Kornel Szucs for pace.
Wayne Rooney has seen his Plymouth Argyle side draw two and lose seven of their nine away games in the Championship this season
Rooney finally had something to excite him when Adam Randell saw a deflected long-range shot fly wide after 31 minutes, but it could have been 3-0 soon after when Marcondes saw a low shot deflected wide after good work by Sainz.
Yet despite Norwich's dominance Argyle went into the break just a goal behind - Szucs won the ball high and Andre Gray's first-time pass found Bundu who blasted in right-footed from just inside the penalty area.
Argyle started the second half promisingly until they conceded a 51st-minute corner where Duffy shook off his marker Szucs and rose highest to glance in his second goal of the season.
Andre Gray saw two efforts saved by Angus Gunn either side of Sainz making a hash of a chance when Grimshaw had given the ball away as Argyle tried to step up the pressure.
But Sainz - the Championship's leading goalscorer - ensured there would be no comeback as he curled in right-footed from the left corner of the box after Jack Stacey had broken from midfield.
Stacey set up the fifth as his cross was met by a controlled low left-footed strike into the bottom corner from Slimane before the rout was completed when Crnac pounced on Julio Pleguezuelo's slip and thundered an effort past Grimshaw at his near post.
Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"I think some of the bits out there today was top.
"I'm pleased with the start, because we talked so much about getting the crowd going and lifting the stadium from the beginning of a match.
"We could have scored a lot, so that first 20 or 25 minutes was really good, and then we also highlighted at half time that the last 20 minutes of the first half was too slow.
"I'm really not happy about the goal because that's simply too stupid and something that can actually change the moment of a match.
"But I think we responded well and most of the second half was good for us."
Plymouth Argyle head coach Wayne Rooney:
“We were nowhere near good enough – we are down to the bare bones with injuries but that is no excuse."
“We were fortunate to be only 2-1 down at half-time. You then hope for a reaction in the second half but once they made it 3-1 I thought we went under, which is very disappointing. The players just didn’t look like they thought they could get back in it.
“We need to be a lot better than that – the next 24-48 hours are not going to be very nice for the players.
“I have praised them a lot this season for their performances at home – but away needs to much better than this and we have got to get to the bottom of why it keeps happening – it can’t carry on like this.
“I just feel sorry for the fans who have come all this way – they will be not be pleased with what they have seen tonight.”
