Match Details

Reports

Granted, the defending by both sides in the first half was very charitable. Armstrong and Smith's half hearted blocks on Notman to let him through for the first, Smith's ill-advised lunge to give away the penalty for the second and keeper Green's gift to Kevin Ball belied some high-quality football by both sides. However, the manner in which Burnley took the opposition by the throat in the second half shows that the Clarets are not going to be scared of anyone these days.

With the exception of the chunky Iwan Roberts in attack, the diminishing builds of the Norwich players suggested they had been progressively sieved from back to front, and it was their natural game to pass the ball and move. Their plan of pushing the ball behind an at times fairly static BFC back four for nippy movers like Notman worked well in the first half, before Armstrong and Thomas learned to back off them better. Defensively, Norwich pushed an extra man into midfield and limited a slow-starting Little's attacking opportunities down the right flank, but Cook played well to be the main attacking outlet in the first half.

Meanwhile, referee Messias's decision not award a penalty for the flattening of Ian Moore - a transgression far more blatant that his bundling over in the WBA game - also set a new standard to which other officials can now sink. Moore may have made a rod for his own back by being habitually all-to-eager to drop, but in this match I think he was hard done by.

After the revolutionary idea of introducing a defender (albeit a rusty Mitchell Thomas) in the role of left-back, and after pushing Weller into a hole behind the front two, the Clarets seized control and played some of their best football since... the match on Saturday. Suddenly, with the ball down on the floor and a good playing surface, we started to see Total Football while Norwich lumped the ball upfield.

Little, who is increasingly resembling Sonia off EastEnders to my untrained eyes, was the spearhead for much of this. After threading his way through several defenders, it was his cross, heavily top-spinned, which landed invitingly for Gareth Taylor to fall upon and head into the far corner for his fourth goal in eight games.

After that it was one-way traffic until the decider. The winner, when it came, stemmed from a move which appeared to have broken down after Weller and then Taylor had driven the ball forward. Ian Moore hit the ball cleanly and from a distance past the keeper into the far corner. As hundreds of away supporters went beserk, Moore's reaction showed just how pumped up the team were.

The only scrapes after that as the Burnley team shut up shop were a blocked volley from Roberts and a scramble in the penalty area from a corner. After half an hour it was game over and another step onwards, with the playoffs still just about in sight...

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