As Norwich City take on Coventry City in the third round of the FA Cup at Carrow Road this Saturday (12pm KO), we’re taking a look back on a memorable outing against the Sky Blues in the competition.
A fourth-round replay after a 0-0 draw against the midlands side in the week previous, the Canaries left it until extra-time to take the win over Coventry and progress into the fifth round.
Norwich City 3-1 Coventry City
February 8, 1995
FA Cup fourth-round
Carrow Road
What was on the line?
Since this fixture was in the FA Cup, it followed the usual knockout stage format, meaning a loss would see the Canaries out of the competition, while a win would progress them through to the fifth round.
Having beaten Grimsby 1-0 as they entered the competition in the third round, getting past this difficult replay against Coventry to reach the last 16 would mark a memorable cup run in itself for the Canaries.
How the game unfolded
After a goalless 90 minutes in their first meeting, it was surprising to see the Canaries find the opener in just nine minutes in the replay! Nice build-up play from City opened the Sky Blues up early on, Mark Bowen firing a cross into the box for an unmarked Mike Sheron to nestle the ball into the back of the net.
It took Coventry until the 32nd minute to reply, Sean Flynn heading a corner onto Peter Ndlovu, who in turn got his own head to the ball to get it over the line, levelling for half-time.
A goalless second-half saw the game turn to extra-time before the last resort of penalties, which wasn’t an option City were looking to head for. Thirteen minutes into extra-time, club legend Darren Eadie put the Canaries ahead with a curling effort after catching a cross from substitute Jeremy Goss sweetly.
Just five minutes later, Mike Sheron put the game to bed after finding his second goal of the evening, a scrap on the goal-line from Coventry to divert his deflected close-range shot from a City corner proving fruitless.
Norwich City XI: Marshall, Newsome, Sutch, Ullathorne, Polston, Adams, Bowen, Crook, Eadie, Milligan, Sheron
What happened next?
Norwich progressed into the fifth-round of the competition as they faced Everton at Goodison Park, a game the Canaries would go on to lose 5-0 to exit the tournament.
After this fixture knocked the Sky Blues out of the cup, they could go on to focus on their Premier League season, finishing 16th at the end of the campaign.
