With Norwich City travelling to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Wednesday evening, we’re rewinding the clock and looking back on a memorable win over the side.
Back in the Premier League’s debut season with the Canaries on top, a win saw a vital three points contribute to the title chase in the topflight.
Nottingham Forest 0-3 Norwich City
March 17, 1993
Premier League
City Ground
What was on the line?
Going into Matchday 30, City were sitting at the top of the Premier League table with 62 points (having played 34 games, whilst some teams had only played 31!) With just four games left for the Canaries, every point counted toward the title chase in the Premier League’s first-ever season.
For Forest, it was a very different story. Down at the opposite end of the table, Nottingham were deep into a relegation battle between themselves, Oldham Athletic, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace, and Sheffield United, with all five in danger of seeing the drop. Because of this, and much like City, every point was vital come the end of the season.
How the game unfolded
After a quiet 45 minutes, Mark Robins opened the scoring for the Canaries just 30 seconds before half time after their counter-attack. Ian Crook led the charge, carrying the ball from City’s half well into Forest’s, before laying the ball off to Robins just outside the 18-yard box. Firing just as he entered the area, Robins beat the ‘keeper for 1-0.
73 minutes in with the lead still intact, City doubled the margin of error with a Crook corner finding Lee Power at the far post, who dinked it in on the volley effortlessly for the Canaries second.
Having picked up two assists, it was only right that Crook would round off the scoring with a finish of his own. After David Phillips’ free-kick was headed away by Forest, Ian Culverhouse sent it back in for Ruel Fox, who pulled it back for Crook to lace into the back of the net (taking a slight deflection on its way from a Forest shirt!) for City’s third and final goal.
Norwich City XI: Gunn, Culverhouse, Bowen, Polston, Woodthorpe, Crook, Phillips, Smith, Robins (Power, 49), Fox, Sutton
What happened next?
Norwich wouldn’t win the title in the Premier League’s debut season, unfortunately. Picking up ten more points until the end of the season in their last four games, the title race was out of their hands as Manchester United stormed ahead and finished on 84 points.
For Forest, a difficult end to the season would see them pick up just eight points from their last six games, finishing 20th in the Premier League and being relegated to the second division for the 1993-1994 season.