Norwich missed the chance to move to third in the table as they were held to a draw in a match which they dominated against a Preston North End side ten points adrift at the bottom of the Championship.
The home side opened brightly without creating any clear cut opportunities, yet it was Preston who took the lead on the hour mark when Chris Brown, who'd been on the pitch less than two minutes, expertly controlled a freekick before controversially volleying the strugglers ahead. There was much dispute about the award of the freekick in the first place which could have been given to the home side; their greviance was increased further as Canary defenders were adamant that Brown was offside when the freekick was taken.
Norwich responded immediately as Grant Holt side footed in after Iain Turner failed to hold Andrew Surman's shot. It seemed that the momentum was with the yellows, roared on by a crowd of over 25, 500. Iain Hume's cross shot in the 67th minute did rattle the home sides' bar, yet Norwich were setting the tempo with the help of the ever influential Andrew Crofts. The break through appeared to arrive when Russell Martin's effort on goal was blocked by the hand of Billy Jones resulting in a penalty to the home side. Wes Hoolahan arrogantly stepped up to take the penalty having missed at QPR but scored at home to Sheffield United, however his chipped penalty kick down the centre was saved by Turner who was able to recover having already dived.
Such a rash decision given the time and context of the game is unforgivable, as Norwich were piling on the pressure to earn three points that the form table suggests they should have obtained. This caused great frustration; Lambert kicked a water bottle in disgust at the penalty, the players began to argue, Hoolahan's head dropped and the crowd became restless. Despite his undoubted footballing ability and excellent vision, Hoolahan's inexplicable and often mystifying decision making is probably the reason he has yet to convince Premiership clubs that he is talent worth risking millions of pounds on.
Despite an effort from Hoolahan that Turner parried and an injury time shot from substitue Aaron Wilbraham that ended up in the side netting, the home side we unable to score a winning goal even when Preston were forced to play the final minutes with ten men due to an injury to right back David Gray.
A frustrating game for Norwich, but with fellow promotion hopefuls Swansea, Cardiff and Nottingham Forest all losing, a point in the grand scheme of things isn't necessarily a poor result.
Next Home Game: March 14th vs. Bristol City
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