City Flashback - 2017 | Bluebirds complete Canaries comeback
⏪𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 | 2017 📆
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) July 28, 2022
Goals from @Joe_Ralls, @jnrhoilett and Omar Bogle helped City defeat the Canaries! 💙
Read more 👇#CityAsOne
As the Bluebirds prepare to welcome Norwich City to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, we take a look back at a memorable win against the Canaries in 2017.
City entered the game on a string of good form, after a positive start to the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season. Standout victories over Brentford, Barnsley and Nottingham Forest saw the Bluebirds sit within the automatic promotion places heading into a busy December schedule.
The Canaries, meanwhile, travelled to the Welsh capital searching for their first win in eight games, having been held to a 1-1 draw with Preston North End in their previous fixture.
Heading into the clash, Neil Warnock, who was celebrating his 69th birthday, made only one change to the Bluebirds' starting eleven. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing returned to fold in place of Callum Paterson, who dropped to the bench.
City began on the front foot in the early proceedings, and carved out a good chance on 15 minutes through Junior Hoilett. The Canadian played in Danny Ward, but the former Rotherham man saw his shot blocked inside the area.
At the other end, the visitors soon had a chance of their own. Neil Etheridge had to deal with Grant Hanley’s header before Sean Morrison make a last-ditch tackle to deny Nélson Oliveira a shot on target.
Despite City’s resilient defending, Daniel Farke’s team broke the deadlock on the brink of half time. A dangerous in-swinging corner was cleared out of the area, before Marco Stiepermann drilled home a left footed half-volley from range to open the scoring.
In a bid to change things offensively, the Bluebirds introduced Lee Tomlin and Omar Bogle at the start of the second half.
Both players made an immediate impact, with City winning a corner three minutes after the restart. Morrison’s resulting header was tipped over by Angus Gunn, as the Bluebirds applied early pressure.
Warnock’s men began the fightback soon afterwards, and were awarded a penalty after 49 minutes. Joe Ralls stepped up and calmly converted his spot-kick to level the score.
With the home support in full voice, it didn’t take long for City to take the lead. Hoilett reacted quickest to Loïc Damour’s blocked shot and found the far corner with a delightful volley just past the hour mark.
Chances continued to come for both sides, and Norwich's Josh Murphy almost levelled the match soon after. The future Bluebird fired towards goal, but Etheridge pulled off a marvellous save at his near post.
Five minutes later, City were awarded another penalty. Tomlin was brought down by Gunn inside the area, with Ralls stepping up for his second spot-kick of the game. However, the midfielder was denied a brace, as his effort was well saved by Gunn.
Undeterred, the Bluebirds soon put the game out of sight as they made it 3-1. After some individual brilliance from Tomlin, Paterson’s low cross from the right was clinically buried by substitute Bogle.
The home victory was the Bluebirds' tenth unbeaten league match of the season at CCS, as they cut the gap to first place Wolverhampton Wanderers to just one point.
Ending the season with a vital point against Reading at Cardiff City Stadium on the final day of the campaign, the Bluebirds finished 2nd in the Championship table, securing automatic promotion to the Premier League.
The Bluebirds were joined by Wolves and Fulham in the top flight the following season, with the Whites gaining victory over Aston Villa in the 2017/18 Championship Play-Off Final.
