Our latest Norwich City player watch kept a close eye on top scorer TEEMU PUKKI as he ended his short goal drought with a brace against QPR to continue his brilliant season.
2 – Emi Buendia flicks the Finn into the right channel and Jake Bidwell keeps pace to keep him wide, squeezes a shot in at the near post but Joe Lumley holds comfortably.
4 – Christoph Zimmermann fires goalwards after some pinball in the QPR box, the ball falls to Pukki but in an offside position as he tees up Tom Trybull to shoot.
14 – Darnell Furlong and Joe Lynch collide on halfway and Pukki nips in to set Hernandez away on the left but winger is closed down.
15 – Slides in on Pawel Wszolek but manages to pull out of the tackle and just clips him, so only free-kick and no yellow, after sustained pressure from City.
18 – Calmly heads a Zimmermann clearance down to Buendia, who sets Hernandez away and Lumley gets down well to deny a replica of the Cuban’s goal at Middlesbrough, dancing across the edge of the box before firing towards the bottom-left corner.
22 – Lynch’s clearance hits a grounded Bidwell, Pukki collects and Marco Stiepermann pushes forward then finds the striker on the right, who cuts back to Buendia, Kenny McLean chips through to Hernandez, who fires beyond the far post on the spin.
38 – GOAL – Luke Freeman’s poor touch gives the ball to Buendia on the edge of the QPR box, who simply tees up Pukki to stroke into the bottom-right corner past an exposed Lumley.
50 – Jamal Lewis with good pace to cross from the left, Buendia can’t make clean contact with his header and Pukki can’t quite keep the ball in, but his efforts are appreciated by the home fans.
54 – Zimmermann sends the ball long to Buendia on the right, doesn’t quite win the race but then Pukki is quick to close Angel Rangel and prevent an attack.
62 – Huge roars of appreciation and cheers of ‘TEEMU PUKKI, BABY’ as the striker charges back to stop Rangel going through on goal as the Rs countered.
65 – Picks up a loose ball in his own half and drives forward, with the visitors scrambling, plays to Stiepermann on the right, who picks out Buendia but the youngster curls a poor effort wide.
79 – Battle back to help Max Aarons deal with Osayi-Samuel in the corner, to big cheers again.
82 – Tugs back Ebere Eze as he helps out defensively again but annoyed to concede a foul in midfield.
85 – GOAL – Zimmermann pushes into space and loops a lovely ball over the QPR defence, with Hernandez getting in Lynch’s path to buy some space and Pukki smashing into the top-left corner from a narrow angle. Huge celebrations with the Barclay as they sing his name again, scoring his 27 goal of the season.
87 – Replaced by Moritz Leitner.
VERDICT: Two typically lethal finishes but also some excellent work rate, particularly after Buendia’s red card with 20 minutes left. In the driving seat to win the Championship golden boot now after bringing an end to a short four-game drought, with 26 league goals in 40 games as his brilliant campaign continues.
Just two players have scored more goals in a league season for City than Pukki now, with Ralph Hunt’s 31 in 1955-56 and Percy Varco’s 29 in 1927-28 both scored in Division Three South. Has exceeded the 25 scored by Chris Sutton in 1993-94 now and drawn level with the 26 managed by Terry Allcock and Ron Davies in the second tier in the early 1960s.
RATING: 8 out of 10
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