English Championship leaders Ipswich suffered a serious blow to their hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League on Saturday as they slid to a 1-0 defeat at local rivals Norwich.
It was a good victory for Norwich, who extended their hex over Ipswich to 15 years and fully deserved their extensive celebrations.
They maintained a grip on the final playoff spot with an eighth straight home win and, in doing so, put a dent in their bitter rivals’ chances of automatic promotion
The defeat gives hope to Leeds, just a point behind with a game in hand, and long-time leaders Leicester, two points behind with two games in hand.
A tense game of few clear-cut chances was settled by a 39th-minute free-kick from Marcelino Nunez, who fired home low and hard from well outside the box.
The win left a below-par Ipswich side hoping for slip-ups from rivals Leicester and Leeds later on Saturday, while for Norwich it further cemented their place in the top six.
It also maintained their overwhelming supremacy in this fixture in recent years — Ipswich have failed to win an East Anglian derby win since 2009.
Nunez put his side in front six minutes before the break after Sam Morsy had shoved Josh Sargent to the ground.
The Chilean comfortably beat Town’s two-man wall with a low curler that eluded Vaclav Hladky’s desperate dive to the left and went in off the post.
Ipswich were well below par. Conor Chaplin finally produced an effort worthy of the name on 70 minutes, firing just over after being picked out by Leif Davis’s cross.
Substitute Ali Al-Hamadi was then thwarted by Angus Gunn’s quick reaction as he chased a long ball but Norwich defended well to see out a well-deserved win.
