Eom Ji-Sung (centre) played a big part in the game's decisive moment despite spending most of the international break away with South Korea
Swansea City claimed a second Championship victory of the season as Amankwah Forson’s early own goal proved the difference against Norwich City.
The unfortunate Forson turned the ball into his own net as he attempted to cut out an Eom Ji-Sung pull-back.
A lively contest brought further chances at both ends, with Goncalo Franco threatening for Swansea and Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz coming close to a Norwich equaliser.
Norwich mounted a spell of sustained pressure for almost the first time in the closing stages, but Swansea held on for a hard-fought win.
The home side’s resilience ensured Johannes Hoff Thorup’s Norwich were beaten in the league for the first time since the opening weekend.
Swansea’s success means they remain unbeaten on their own ground in the league this season, having banked seven points from their first three second-tier home games.
They climb to 11th in the early-season table, with Norwich dropping to 15th.
The Canaries' first league victory of the season had come courtesy of a first clean sheet of the Thorup era at Coventry a fortnight ago.
Their hopes of another shutout lasted less than four minutes, as the game’s first meaningful attack brought the opening goal.
Swansea were bright and sharp in possession, with Kyle Naughton – playing because Josh Tymon was only well enough for the bench – and Ollie Cooper working the ball to Eom in the penalty area.
His pull-back was intended for Liam Cullen, with Forson’s attempt to cut off the pass ending with the ball ricocheting inside the far post.
This was an open contest in which both sides looked threatening in possession, and Norwich might easily have equalised as Sargent saw one effort blocked and another beaten away by Lawrence Vigouroux.
Vigouroux was then relieved to see Sargent’s flicked header sail beyond the far post, before another header, this time from Forson, was turned wide of the post by the Swansea goalkeeper.
At the other end Angus Gunn pushed over a 25-yard drive from the lively Eom, before Cooper’s pass sent Goncalo Franco scampering into the box.
Borja Sainz failed to convert two late opportunities as Norwich were beaten in the Championship for the first time since losing at Oxford on the opening weekend
The Portuguese midfielder unleashed a thumping drive which would surely have beaten Gunn had Callum Doyle not blocked with his head.
There was less goalmouth incident for much of the second half, though Swansea’s Florian Bianchini was inches away from making the points safe as he stretched in vain to tap home from Cooper’s centre.
With that Norwich took control of the closing stages, with Sainz seeming destined to equalise when he broke through in the last minute of normal time only for Ben Cabango to save Swansea with a fabulous last-ditch tackle.
An error from the otherwise impressive Ronald meant Sainz was presented with another opportunity seconds later, but this time Harry Darling led Swansea's scramble defence.
There was still time for Norwich to work the ball once more into Sainz’s path in the penalty area, but this time he blazed over.
Swansea head coach Luke Williams:
“I think it can go either way this game because they created good chances as well. But I think we started the game in the correct way and were probably the dominant team in the first half.
“Then I think the last 15 minutes were very, very tense and we had to show a lot of character to defend the box.
“But that’s good because I think we showed a little bit of everything we are about today and I am going to take the points.
“Sometimes in football you play brilliantly and you don’t get anything, other times the points can go either way and it falls on your side, so I’ll take that.”
Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup:
“It’s a difficult one to try not to be too disrespectful, because I think Swansea did well - they made a good performance.
“But I think we lose because we perform like we did, especially in the first half where we don’t have the control of the game, we don’t take care of our chances and we invite them in with a silly goal to begin with. We should have taken better care of the individual situations.
“We created two very good chances after the goal, the response was good. But what I don’t like is that it was too open – there was too much back and forth.
“I like the second half way better but everyone can see we need to be more effective and show more quality up front so we can at least get a point today.”
