Wolverhampton Wanderers suffered a 3-1 Championship defeat to Norwich City – conceding two vital goals after a red card was shown to goalkeeper Carl Ikeme.
Wolverhampton Wanderers blew what would have been an admirable Championship away point to ultimately lose 3-1 to Norwich City.
Wolves’ endeavours to get back into the game, after going a goal down to a 13th minute Steven Naismith strike and generally being outplayed by the Canaries, proved successful when midfield maestro Helder Costa converted an equaliser via a second half penalty.
However, manager Paul Lambert’s spirits would not remain high for long – as his side fell to defeat and ended his impressive record against his previous employers in the process. Indeed, since his departure as Norwich boss in the summer of 2012 – and prior to this 3-1 loss – Lambert had experienced a 100% winning record on his returns to Carrow Road as a visiting manager.
The specifics of the Wolves loss – a Robbie Brady penalty and a Jonny Howson goal in added on time – may well be attributed to the game’s turning point; namely the dismissal of goalkeeper Carl Ikeme in the 72nd minute.
It remains unclear exactly why the 30-year-old was dismissed, but Ikeme – who has been in impressive form for Wanderers recently – was given a straight red card for either bringing down Wes Hoolahan for the award of the Brady penalty, or the goalkeeper’s reaction in the melee that followed. Whatever the cause of the red card, an immediate sense of injustice amongst the Wolves players was evident as a mini-brawl followed before Ikeme eventually left the field of play.
Regardless, Brady slotted the subsequent spot-kick past Wolves stand-in ‘keeper Matt Doherty to give the home side the lead. Full back Doherty took the gloves after Lambert had already made all three permitted substitutions – but he was helpless to stop the stoppage-time third Norwich goal, which sealed the win and eased the pressure on Canaries boss Alex Neil.
At the culmination of their first defeat of 2017, many a Wolves fan took to Twitter to defend Ikeme whilst simultaneously issuing their displeasure at the injustice of their goalkeeper’s dismissal – including disappointment at an anticipated consequential suspension that’s likely to rule Ikeme out of next week’s FA Cup tie against Premier League Liverpool.
Here’s a taste of Wolves’ fans reaction to Ikeme’s sending off.
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