Norwich City 2-0 Sheff Weds: Davitt Championship pointers

1. Jakov where?

Stunned might be the best way to describe the home support as Jakov Medic replaced Mathias Kvistgaarden just past the hour mark…to lead the Norwich City forward line.

Clement had trailed this selection shock a few weeks ago, when he referred to how at every previous coaching outpost at some point he had been forced to deploy players so far removed from their natural station as to check the calendar was not April 1.

Clement revealed afterwards Medic had caught the eye with the number of goals he scored in finishing drills, and the discovery from the Croatian himself he had played as a striker regularly at junior level.

Medic, not to be uncharitable to a centre back with the physique of a heavyweight boxer, was not going to outstrip the Owls’ backline or run the channels.

But with Norwich two goals up, and Kvistgaarden now perhaps an endangered attacking species after his own early introduction for the luckless Mohamed Toure, you could understand the logic of withdrawing the Dane for a strapping defender who had played as a centre forward in the German third tier.

It certainly added to the atmosphere, as the home fans roared support whenever the ball threatened to reach Medic inside the penalty box. At one point there was a spontaneous burst of the terrace song that used to serenade a certain American. With lyrics suitably adapted.

Maybe not quite pantomime season but Medic’s arrival typified a second half that had to be navigated without any home alarms.

A routine league win moved Clement’s side eight points clear of the bottom three. That feels like a comfortable buffer. Get to the half-century that tends to be the historical benchmark for survival, and then City can reassess for the final push.

2. Make it stop

The collective Carrow Road pulse quickened when Toure dropped to the turf seven minutes or so in as he chased Jack Stacey’s ball into the channel. Clement swivelled to face his coaches and support staff and thrust his face into his hands.

He knew, as those present in the stands did, the last thing the Canaries needed was not just another injury, but to a striker. Given Jovon Makama is likely to miss the bulk of the run-in following foot surgery and Josh Sargent’s protracted move to Toronto is set to be officially confirmed once the MLS find their rubber stamp.

Toure was consoled by Clement as Kvistgaarden was introduced with nine minutes on the clock. Now the obligatory wait for scans to assess the extent of what looked on the replays a potential groin issue.

Kvistgaarden himself has seen a debut season in England blighted by a knee injury, but notched for the second time this campaign against the Owls with a poacher’s follow up effort. He looked bright and inventive against the relegated visitors.

But Clement will know if Toure is ruled out for the foreseeable he will need to take selection creativity to a whole new level.

It almost felt a self-fulfilling prophecy, after the Belgian explained his reasons for removing Toure against Birmingham on Saturday was to manage his minutes for the battles ahead.

Now it is back to simply managing a squad which is disappearing in ever decreasing injury circles.

3. Paris by moonlight

What a lovely footballer Norwich have acquired in Paris Maghoma. You could watch the graceful movement and close control all day and all night.

A first Championship start in yellow and green. A first league goal for the Canaries. A sumptuous left-footed finish from 18 yards rifled into the bottom corner, after a gorgeous take from Jacob Wright on the half-turn to lose his marker.

Maghoma sees the pictures and can paint them in the way he intelligently finds those pockets of space to bring team mates into play, or create avenues by attracting opponents for the likes of Ali Ahmed, in this game, to roam infield.

Clement continued the theme of the night when Maghoma did not re-appear for the second half. In Anis Ben Slimane he has another number 10 option who has taken many a stride forward under this head coach. In a squad ravaged by injury after injury Clement’s options feel luxurious at the sharp end of his attacking three behind the frontman.

The competitive sparks between Slimane and Maghoma can only add that creative dimension Clement clearly felt was lacking, or in too small a quantity, when he set out the January transfer window strategy.

If City can manage the 24-year-old through this twilight period between a lack of competitive football over the past 12 months due to hamstring-related absences and a fully-fledged starter, then the rest should take of itself. The talent and the technical ability are not in doubt.

4. Go well, Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday’s league status is largely immaterial at this point. What matters more for those 625 die hards who travelled to Carrow Road, and the 22,500 who on average have flocked to Hillsborough this desperate season, is they still have a club to support.

The earliest relegation in English football league history was confirmed at all places their bitter Steel City rivals ahead of the trip to Norfolk.

The last win came at Portsmouth on September 20 last year. So long ago Liam Manning’s honeymoon period was still just about holding. On the eve of this game came news the preferred bidder has opted to withdraw from a proposed takeover.

What a pitiful state of affairs for one of English football’s oldest clubs; formed a decade or so after Sheffield FC - widely recognised as the oldest club in the game.

Norwich fans have experienced hard times this season, but their club is stable and the ownership both financially committed and, shown again by the presence of principal owner Mark Attanasio for the weekend’s defeat to Birmingham, fully invested in the football journey being shaped by Clement and sporting director Ben Knapper.

Attanasio was passed the baton by majority owners in Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones who blanched at that term, and instead always wanted to be known as ‘custodians’.

The Owls are the latest, but sadly they will not be the last professional club subjected to such tumultuous currents. It is always the fans who feel it the most. And the fans who suffer the most.

But it will be those same fans who help it rise again. In the final couple of minutes the strains of ‘We love you Wednesday, we do’ rose from the away end. Applause erupted from home areas. A bond that transcends blue or white or green or yellow.

You wish them well, and perhaps count your blessings it is not your club.

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