A pair of players which suffered through Norwich City’s relegation a year ago helped the Canaries back into the Premier League with two early goals.
Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond netted twice in three minutes to build a 2-0 lead that would last through the Championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium on Monday morning.
It’s called the richest game in the world, with an estimated $180 million on the line. It didn’t provide a wealth of scoring chances, though.
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After the clubs exchanged cross bar strikes from City’s Bradley Johnson and Boro’s Jelle Vosson, Norwich got on the board.
Jerome victimized Daniel Ayala and then dribbled toward ‘Boro keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos at a tight angle before firing between the legs to make it 1-0 Canaries in the 12th minute.
And it was 2-0 within minutes, as the 15th saw Nathan Redmond bury a low, right-footed shot into the side netting.
Middlesbrough, of course, opened the second half with a desperate attacking idea that lasted the duration. That provided the opportunity for dangerous Norwich counters, but the Canaries took a while to find those chances as ‘Boro worked to narrow the deficit.
In the end, though, there was a class difference between the Canaries and ‘Boro. Norwich rarely seemed troubled by their promotion foes, and Alex Neil’s side are going up.
THAT’S IT! WE’VE DONE IT! WE’RE GOING BACK TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE! #OurFinalStep pic.twitter.com/RjghbqG9xs
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) May 25, 2015
LINEUPS
Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Whitehead, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Clayton, Leadbitter, Adomah, Vossen (Kike, 68'), Tomlin, Bamford.
Norwich City: Ruddy, Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson, Redmond (O’Neil, 87'), Howson, Tettey, Johnson, Hoolahan (Dorrans, 75'), Jerome (Grabban, 75').
Goals: Jerome (12'), Redmond (15')
