Norwich City 3 Hull City 2: Tigers pay for early lapses as Canaries go back to top

Hull City's Jackson Irvine, right, battles with Norwich City's Max Aarons at Carrow Road on Wednesday night (Picture: John Walton/PA Wire).

The win saw Norwich return to the top of the Championship on the evening manager Daniel Farke signed a new long-term contract with the club.

After being knocked off the summit by Leeds on Tuesday the Canaries swiftly re-asserted their authority, with goals from Marco Stiepermann and Emi Buendia putting them two up inside 14 minutes.

Although the Tigers pulled one back on the stroke of half-time through Marc Pugh, the hosts were irresistible after the break, with Buendia scoring his second on the hour mark.

Former Norwich striker Chris Martin marked his return to Carrow Road by making it 3-2 four minutes from time with a close-range header but Norwich saw out the game with few problems.

The result completed a perfect night for the hosts, with the club revealing just before kick-off that Farke and his staff had committed their futures to the club until June 2022.

Hull had started brightly, with Markus Henriksen clipping the crossbar with an early free-kick, only for Norwich to score twice in four minutes.

After 10 minutes Stiepermann waltzed through a static defence and blasted the ball past former Norwich goalkeeper David Marshall.

The visitors then failed to pick out a run into the box from the lively Onel Hernandez and although Marshall made a good stop to keep out his shot the ball bounced kindly for Buendia to tap home to make it 2-0.

Despite Norwich’s dominance, they conceded a soft goal just before the break, Pugh pouncing to fire a low shot into the bottom corner.

Norwich settled any nerves on the hour mark with Buendia’s second of the game.

Hull did pull one back on 86 minutes when Martin headed home a left-wing cross from fellow substitute Kamil Grosicki.

But it proved to be only a minor irritation for the hosts as they leapfrogged Leeds.

Norwich City: Krul, Aarons, Zimmermann, Godfrey, Lewis, Trybull, McLean, Emi (Vrancic 89), Stiepermann (Leitner 86), Hernandez (Klose 90), Pukki. Unused substitutes: Rhodes, Hanley, McGovern, Cantwell.

Hull City: Marshall, Kane, Burke, Ridgewell, Lichaj, Bowen (Grosicki 72), Henriksen, Stewart (Milinkovic 71), Irvine, Pugh, Campbell (Martin 82). Unused substitutes: Evandro, Long, Kingsley, McKenzie.

Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire).