Sargent double sees Norwich beat 10-man Blackburn

Norwich City striker Josh Sargent celebrates his opening goal from the penalty spot

Josh Sargent scored twice as Norwich City beat 10-man Blackburn Rovers to make it back-to-back away wins in the Championship.

Sargent scored from the penalty spot late in the first half, his fifth goal in five games this season, to put the Canaries ahead.

The penalty award also brought a red card for Rovers defender Sean McLoughlin, for a foul on Sargent, and from that moment Valerien Ismael's side were up against it as they sought to avoid a second successive home league defeat.

Rovers were denied an equaliser by a sequence of fine saves from Norwich goalkeeper Vladan Kovacevic, and Sargent sealed the win with an emphatic second goal in added time.

Norwich fans were having a terrible week before making the long trip to Lancashire, as home defeats by Middlesbrough and Southampton, in league and Carabao Cup respectively, plus the sale of key midfielder Marcelino Nunez to rivals Ipswich Town, had added to an unsatisfactory start to their season.

Blackburn have also been having their problems, but home fans hoped last week's 3-0 win at Hull City would launch their season against another team who normally have designs on, at least, a play-off position.

The Canaries had the better of the first half, with Balazs Toth's reflex save denying Papa Amadou Diallo and Sargent then missing a series of chances as he sought to keep up his goal-a-game ratio in the current campaign.

Rovers also had opportunities as Ante Crnac's excellent block denied Sondre Tronstad and then Sidnei Tavares headed wide when he might have scored.

It was Sargent who changed the game, however, breaking clear of the defence to tempt McLoughlin into a foul which left referee Ben Speedie with no choice but to produce his red card and point to the spot, the United States international picking himself up to convert the penalty.

Blackburn, however, defied the numerical disadvantage and exploited the defensive frailties which plagued Norwich last season and which have also been evident in the current campaign.

Kovacevic denied Augustus Kargbo with a remarkable double save, tipping his header onto the post and then flinging out an arm to push away his close-range follow-up shot, while the Bosnian keeper also denied Ryan Hedges from six yards and saw Yuki Ohashi miscue a good chance wide.

Norwich made sure of the points three minutes into added time, against the run of play, as Sargent ran clear and smashed a rising drive past Toth.

'Having Kenny back is massive' - reaction

Blackburn Rovers head coach Valerien Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"One moment decided the game - a long ball that we didn't defend that well. The penalty and red card completely changed the game so at half-time we had another game plan.

"The first half was a typical 50-50 game, with [fewer] chances for us. We played some good football but the last passes, the penetration, was not there.

"I told the players [at half-time] now it's all about managing the game as we're down to 10, make sure we stay in the game as long as possible, and at some point Norwich would start to get nervous about whether to go for the second [goal] or defend the first one, and that's exactly what happened.

"The second thing I said was when we got the chance we would have to be ruthless, and unfortunately when we got the two big chances to score, we didn't score. One point would have been a fair result."

Norwich head coach Liam Manning told BBC Radio Norfolk:

"It's a lot nicer feeling going into the two-week international break with a win, especially off the back of a couple of tough results that didn't necessarily reflect the performances.

"I really enjoyed large elements of the first half. Having Kenny [McLean] back is massive, the control he gives us, and that allowed us to keep Ben [Chrisene] higher, and I thought he had a good game.

"We created some terrific chances in the first half and in the second half. As last week against Middlesbrough, we saw the threat you can carry with 10 men because you can take more risks as you're chasing the game a bit.

"We didn't manage the game the way we would want to in the second half but it's another strong learning experience that will improve us in the future."

What's next for both teams?

Following the fortnight's break for international fixtures, Blackburn travel to play Watford on Saturday, 13 September (15:00 BST).

The Canaries will also be on their travels again, heading to Coventry City at the same time.