CITY'S Under-18s convincingly beat local East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town 3-0 at Colney today to put them joint top of the FA Premier Academy League with Arsenal.
Academy Manager Ricky Martin was looking for a response to the midweek FA Youth Cup defeat to Torquay United and got one with a brace from Danny Kelly and a screamer from Tyree Clarke.
In an even and relatively quiet first half, it was Norwich who created the first real opening of the game after 20 minutes. The forward pair of David Nwaogu and Kelly combined well to create an opportunity for Nwaogu, but he unfortunately shot wide of the far post from a good goalscoring position.
Then eight minutes later Norwich took the lead. Right winger Clarke picked the ball up midway inside the Ipswich half and from 25 yards sent an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the Ipswich net.
Norwich continued to look comfortable in defence for the remainder of the half, but were unable to create any clear cut openings in attack and the half finished 1-0.
The second half was a much more entertaining affair, five minutes in and Ipswich created their best chance, a well struck shot whistled just wide of Jed Steer's post.
On 52 minutes Norwich were awarded a free-kick following a foul on Nwaogu and Dario Dumic's dipping effort was tipped around the post by the Ipswich goalkeeper.
On the hour mark City again came close, good work from Nwaogu in the box allowed David Stephens a shot at goal which was well saved.
Patrick Drmola replaced Nwaogu on 65 minutes, and just a minute after coming on he set up a good goalscoring opportunity - releasing Clarke down the right-hand side, his first time cross found the on-rushing Kelly who managed to lift his shot over the bar from just two yards out.
Kelly didn't have to wait long to make amends though, less than a minute later following good work by Drmola on the edge of the Ipswich area, he fired home a shot from 10 yards out to make the score 2-0.
With a little under 10 minutes remaining a high ball into the Town box was misjudged by the visitor's keeper and the ball fell to Danny Kelly who did well to direct a half-volley into an empty net from the edge of the box.
Norwich continued to dominate for the remainder of the game, fully deserving their 3-0 win.
Speaking to canaries.co.uk after the match, Academy Manager Ricky Martin said: "I was delighted with the way the lads have responded to the disappointment of Wednesday's FA Youth Cup result. I was looking for a reaction and was very pleased with the team performance. We were solid at the back and that provided us with a good platform to build on, we scored some very good goals and I am very happy for the lads."
CITY: Steer, Ball (A.Stephens 84), Habergham, Ekim, Dumic, D.Stephens, Clarke, Osemwegie, D.Kelly, Nwaogu (Drmola 65), S.Kelly. Subs not used: Matthews, Roberts, Jones.
Pictures courtesy of Richard Phillips and FONCY
