The visitors were rightfully reduced to 10 men just after half an hour when Gary O’Neil was shown a red card for a two-footed challenge on Ibrahim Afellay, and Stoke made their numerical advantage count just after half-time when FA Cup hero Walters followed up his weekend victor over Doncaster Rovers to steer home Marko Arnautovic’s inviting cross.
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O’Neil was sent off in the 31st minute of the Barclays Premier League contest at the Britannia Stadium – which was level at 0-0 at the time – after needlessly clattering Ibrahim Afellay from behind with a sliding tackle.
But Stoke regained the lead through Joselu’s smart finish in the 67th minute, and the away side shot themselves in the foot again as Ryan Bennett’s own-goal 12 minutes from time sealed victory for the hosts.
However, Mark Hughes’ side lost their last league outing; former manager Tony Pulis came back to haunt City as West Bromwich Albion completed the double over them with a 2-1 triumph at the Hawthorns. “It was a bad decision from Gary”. The ball was going out aimlessly on the halfway line, I don’t think there were any flashpoints before that that riled him up, and I was as surprised as anyone else to see the tackle that went in. There’s no defending it, it was certainly a sending off and Gary has come and apologised to his team-mates at half-time.
“It’s important to win games. It’s disappointing, especially Gary being an experienced player”, the Norwich boss told Sky Sports after the game. Made a big mistake.
Neil had no doubt the incident had been a “big turning point”.
Norwich remain five points clear of the relegation zone in 15th place, but will be disappointed after registering three wins from their previous four league fixtures.
“Up until then, I thought we were doing well and had the best chance of the game with Ryan Bennett and Jack Butland making the save”.
“We know every Premier League game gives you problems and you have to have the answers”.
“For the most part we’ve been okay, ideally we want to be solid in the top half for the rest of the season now, and this game will hopefully help us create that gap between us and the bottom half”.
And Hughes saіd on Tuesday about losses agaіnst sіdes lіke Norwіch: “і don’t thіnk іt’s through complacency or underestіmatіng the challenge of dіfferent teams”.
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And Hughes has scoffed at reports of the Austria global demanding #100,000-a-week wages, saying: “Figures being bandied about are just supposition by people taking a stab in the dark who really have no real idea”.
