CITY were were thoroughly beaten by Sheffield Wednesday as they lost 5-1 at Hillsborough to seriously damage their hopes of making the play-offs.

It was an extremely poor first half for the Canaries as they once again created their own issues away from home.

Ross Wallace's 15th-minute opener came from all of 35 yards but only after John Ruddy had underhit his clearance, and Jordan Rhodes headed in Fernando Forestieri's cross to compound City's misery seven minutes later.

Cameron Jerome converted on the line after Keiren Westwood had blocked Steven Naismith's shot to give Alex Neil's team hope, but just two minutes later the hosts re-established their two-goal cushion when Morgan Fox stooped to nod home Forestieri's corner.

Nine minutes after the interval, Rhodes showed his poacher's instincts once more by guiding another header past Ruddy after being picked out by Barry Bannan.

City's afternoon to forget continued as the superb Forestieri curled in an unstoppable free-kick from 30 yards, summing up the afternoon and City's season-long struggles on the road.

HOW THEY LINED UP
Neil opted to field the same eleven that started against Ipswich Town in last Sunday's East Anglian derby.

That meant Steven Naismith continued to operate off the left with Wes Hoolahan in the central area behind striker Cameron Jerome.

Nelson Oliveira, Youssouf Mulumbu and Graham Dorrans are all nearing returns from injury but remained absent from the matchday squad in south Yorkshire.

KEY MOMENT
City were on the ropes for most of the first half but when they capitalised on a short spell on pressure through Jerome, they had a chance to get back into the game.

Any hope was quickly snuffed out, however, when their failure to defend the set-piece into the box led to Wednesday tallying their third before half-time.

Fox wriggled clear of Naismith to make space for the header and Ruddy could do nothing to stop it nestling into his net, leaving City with a steep task to get anything from the match.

WHAT IT MEANS
Not only was this a throughly demoralising result on its own for the Canaries, but it had wider ramifications in the Sky Bet Championship table.

Wednesday opened up a gap of nine points to Neil's men, meaning City's play-off ambitions took a severe hit on an afternoon where they could have drawn in their opponents.

GOALS: Owls: Ross Wallace (15), Jordan Rhodes (22, 54), Morgan Fox (40), Fernando Forestieri (66) - Canaries: Cameron Jerome (38)

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: Westwood; Hunt, Loovens (c), Sasso, Fox; Wallace (McManaman 77), Hutchinson (Jones 34), Bannan (Semedo 73), Forestieri; Rhodes, Winnall. Subs not used: Wildsmith (GK), Fletcher, Reach, Palmer.

NORWICH CITY: Ruddy; Pinto, Martin (c), Klose, Dijks; Tettey, Howson; Ja. Murphy (Bennett 45), Hoolahan (Pritchard 71), Naismith (Jo. Murphy 71); Jerome. Subs not used: McGovern (GK), Whittaker, Wildschut, Lafferty.

REFEREE: Andy Davies

ATTENDANCE: 28,178

WHERE NEXT?
City now face a midweek trip to Bristol City, with tickets for Tuesday's game at Ashton Gate on general sale, For all the details and to buy, click HERE.

To view the Canaries' upcoming fixtures in full, click HERE.

Sheffield Wednesday v Norwich City

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