City bossed the first-half but went behind close to the interval when Cuco Martina's low cross was diverted past Tim Krul and into the net by Klose.

The Canaries had plenty of possession in the second-half but couldn't break down a sterm visiting defence as the points headed to Staffordshire.

Daniel Farke named an unchanged side for the fifth league game in a row, with the only change to his squad seeing Onel Hernandez return to the substitute’s bench following a five-match absence through injury.

Meanwhile, Gary Rowett made two changes to his starting eleven with James McClean and Peter Etebo coming in and they made the brighter start. On four minutes, a Tom Ince corner was flicked on by Teemu Pukki but Benik Afobe could only head over from a few yards.

City took a bit of time to get going but they almost produced a goal on 10 minutes. Marco Stiepermann fed wide to Todd Cantwell who returned it back but Stiepermann, off-balance, sliced the ball over from a central position inside the box.

Five minutes later, Emi Buendia dribbled across the edge of the box and played it wide to Jamal Lewis who stung the palms of Jack Butland. Lewis then fired a cross-cum-shot from a similar position across the face of goal which went narrowly wide as City started to dominate proceedings.

Stoke were still a danger though in what had been a fairly open 25 minutes but Ince fired straight at Krul after cutting in from the right midway through the first-half.

City continued to enjoy more of the possession in the game but they fell behind in unfortunate circumstances as the match approached the break. Martina sprinted down the right touchline and his low cross was diverted into his own net by Klose.

City struggled to fashion anything at the start of the second-half with Stoke sitting deep and soaking up the pressure. The first time they could get anywhere near Butland’s goal was when Alex Tettey nodded straight into the arms of the Potters’ goalkeeper following a Buendia corner.

That gave City some fresh impetus and moments later Stiepermann surged forward and forced Butland into a strong save at his near post.

With City struggling to make any in-roads behind the Stoke defence, Farke introduced Jordan Rhodes and Hernandez with 20 minutes to play.

Hernandez was immediately in the thick of the action, bombing forward down the right at every opportunity. But Stoke’s rigid setup was still allowing City very little. That said, Pukki took aim from the edge of the box on 75 minutes but his thumping drive was straight down the throat of Butland.

However, Stoke almost sealed the win on two occasions. The dangerous Ince curled inches wide shortly before he fed Joe Allen who clipped the ball over from inside the box.

City threw everything at Stoke in the closing stages but their best effort came when Mo Leitner shot wide after the ball had broken to the edge of the area.

Unfortunate own goal sees City beaten by Stoke

More Match Reports

#NCFC

Principal Partners

Primary Partners