Norwich City and Leeds United played out a draw in the first leg of their Championship semi-final at Carrow Road on Sunday, leaving the game on hold ahead of the second leg at Elland Road.
Both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances as warned, although Leeds struggled in the first half as Wilfried Gnonto saw a penalty awarded and Junior Firpo was denied an offside flag when he put the ball in the net.
Championship Player of the Season Crysencio Summerville has been well-tied by the hosts, but former Norwich boss Daniel Farke may be the happier of the two managers, as Leeds halt the rot after back-to-back defeats ended their automatic promotion hopes.
The teams will meet again in Yorkshire in the second leg on Thursday, with David Wagner’s men needing a better result than the 1-0 defeat they suffered on their last trip in January.
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Leeds were perhaps unlucky not to be awarded a penalty six minutes from time, as Borja Sainz appeared to drag Gnonto down right on the 18-yard box line.
Norwich enjoyed a good spell as Illan Meslier escaped a few minutes behind, but the Canaries benefited from their dismissal on the half-hour mark, with Georginio Rutter flagged for a serious offside. calls before Firpo finished in an open goal.
30′ Firpo has the ball in the back of the net, but the offside flag goes up, replays show it was too close. It’s good to play in the design. It’s still 0-0 after half an hour pic.twitter.com/gwzQtIo49x
— Leeds United (@LUFC) May 12, 2024
Things improved briefly after the restart as Gabriel Sara fired over at one end and Summerville worked Angus Gunn at the other.
However, that increase in tempo was short-lived as the game settled back into the thick of things, with Farke replacing Gnonto and Rutter with Jaidon Anthony and Joel Piroe in an attempt to introduce more attacking fervor.
The visitors exercised great control throughout the closing stages, but failed to really threaten Gunn between the sticks, with Anthony’s soft save all that was required of the Norwich shoot-stopper.
With away goals irrelevant in the play-offs, it will be winner-take-all on Thursday, with a trip to Wembley Stadium to face either Southampton or West Brom the prize.
There is no in between @NorwichCityFC again @LUFC after the first leg – all to play for on Thursday night!#EFL | #EFLPlayOffs pic.twitter.com/GW4kJU5SG5
– Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) May 12, 2024
