Norwich City 3 Middlesbrough 3: Michael Carrick feels only pride despite turnaround at Carrow Road
MIDDLESBROUGH manager Michael Carrick was pleased with his team, despite seeing them give up a two-goal lead at Norwich City and having to settle for a share of the points.
The Canaries took an eighth-minute lead through a Borja Sainz’s long-range piledriver, only to find themselves 3-1 down at the break.
Boro took just three minutes to level through Tommy Conway before scoring twice at the end of the first period – through Conway again and then Finn Azaz – to seemingly take control.
Conway should have put the game to bed from the penalty spot on 68 minutes but had his effort saved by George Long.
The hosts then pulled one back through Sainz before fortuitously getting back on level terms in the 79th minute equaliser when visiting goalkeeper Seny Dieng managed to claw the ball away from Kellen Fisher’s inswinging cross only to inadvertently flick it back into his own net.
The drama was not over, with Norwich skipper Kenny McLean sent off for a high tackle on Hayden Hackney – but the hosts saw out the final 10 minutes.
“I feel really proud of the lads, even though we are obviously all disappointed with the way it ended,” he said.
“I think Norwich are now unbeaten here for a year (24 games) so we were playing against a really good team and caused them a lot of problems.
“We missed a penalty and they put two in from 25 yards – that sort of thing can happen in football sometimes but overall I was delighted with the way we played. There’s so much the lads can take from this.
“We have just played two top sides in the space of a few days (they beat Sheffield United 1-0 in midweek) and are really disappointed not to have come away with six points.
“As a team we looked well balanced, played really good football at times and were rewarded with three goals, but you can’t really legislate for the kind of goals Norwich scored.
“To come to a tough place like this and be really disappointed to only take a point shows how far we have come.”
Norwich City: Long, Fisher, Duffy, Cordoba, Doyle, B Slimane (Schwartau 64), McLean, Marcondes (Stacey 84), Crnac (Forson 64), Sargent (Gordon 90), Sainz (Sorensen 90). Unused substitutes: Mair, Hanley, Chrisene, Forsyth.
Middlesbrough: Dieng, Dijksteel (Ayling 82), van den Berg, Edmundson, Borges, Morris (Hamilton 90), Hackney, Doak (Jones 71), Azaz, McGree (Howson 82), Conway (Latte Lath 71). Unused substitutes: Brynn, Barlaser, Clarke, Burgzorg.
Referee: James Bell (Yorkshire).