Norwich head coach David Wagner was delighted to see his side bounce back from a frustrating result at the weekend by beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at Carrow Road.
The Canaries lacked a cutting edge in a goalless draw with Preston but took their chances well against the Owls to stay on the fringes of the Championship play-off zone.
“Four days ago I spoke about how frustrated I was about not taking our chances, so to put things right at the very first opportunity is very pleasing and just the way it should be,” Wagner said.
“We scored three wonderful goals, created a lot of other opportunities and also defended well, even though their set pieces caused us one or two problems.
“We scored a great goal early on and could have had more but we didn’t make it easy for ourselves and conceded an equaliser.
“It is always pleasing in those circumstances when you then go on and win the game.
“We responded well to the setback, kept our tempo, kept believing and got the result we deserved.
“We have done well in our last six games, and also did well in the first six games of the season.
“In between could have been better but now we must keep this going, making sure our performances are at a consistent level.
“We now have a big derby game (at Ipswich) and everyone is really looking forward to that.”
Norwich were set on their way by a superb seventh-minute strike from Borja Sainz, who was making his full debut after his summer move to Carrow Road.
He found the top corner with a rising drive from just outside the box to open the scoring, although Wednesday responded well and got back on level terms just past the half-hour mark with a back-post header from teenager Bailey Cadamarteri.
Norwich got their noses in front just after the restart when Ashley Barnes slid home Sainz’s left-wing cross and gave themselves some breathing space after 72 minutes, Jonathan Rowe taking advantage of some poor defending to nod home his ninth of the season.
The defeat brought to an end Wednesday’s mini revival of seven points from a possible nine, but manager Danny Rohl took the result on the chin.
“I am okay with my players after that, even though I am obviously disappointed with the result,” he said.
“Now we must recover and be ready to go again on Saturday when we have another big game (at home to fellow strugglers QPR).
“In each half we had early goals to deal with and that didn’t help us, especially in the second half when we had just changed things.
“I thought we did a lot of things very well, although our pressing wasn’t sharp enough and at times our positioning wasn’t good enough.
“We tried everything but in the end it wasn’t enough and our opponents were better in the box and deserved the win.”
Rohl paid tribute to young goalscorer Cadamarteri, who committed his long-term future to the club earlier this week.
“He now has two goals in four games and clearly is a young player with a lot of potential. He deserves his contract and it proves we are looking to the future at this club.”
Vardy eyes 100-point season after Leicester's title win
Jamie Vardy has challenged his Leicester City team-mates to reach 100 points after sealing the Championship title with one game to spare.
The Foxes were promoted back to the Premier League without kicking a ball after Leeds United’s 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday, but they needed to win on Monday to earn top spot.
Enzo Maresca’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory over Preston through Vardy’s brace and Kasey McAteer’s header, moving them to 97 points.
With one last milestone in their reach, Vardy wants to make sure they end an already successful season on a high.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We can celebrate it tonight, but now we have another target which is 100 points.
“We are over the moon. It has gone by quick but it's a graft. Not many days off, I'll tell you that.
“The lads - they've given it all. Thoroughly deserved, and I'm glad we've had 5000 to come and celebrate with us. It's not like it's 20 minutes up the road."
After a run of just three victories from nine games in the league between mid-February and April, Leicester have now won each of their last three outings.
Maresca has praised his players for their hard work in what he labelled a “tough season”.
“Fantastic, it's been a fantastic season. The Championship is a tough season and very intense, but I'm very happy," said Maresca.
"Now it's time to enjoy the work of the season to bring this special club back to the Premier League. We deserve it.
“The last two days they have been fantastic. We got promoted, but it was difficult in game preparation. But we used all of today to prepare for the game, the morning and afternoon. It was good.”
Barcelona 4-2 Valencia: Lewandowski hat-trick leads Barca to 4-2 win over 10-man Valencia
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski scored a second-half hat-trick to help his side fight back to claim a hard-fought 4-2 win over Valencia, who were leading 2-1 when they were reduced to 10 men just before the break.
Fermin Lopez's header from a Raphinha cross put Barca in front after 22 minutes, but Valencia's Hugo Duro struck in the 27th and Pepelu scored from the spot after a foul by Ronald Araujo 11 minutes later to give the visitors the lead.
But after Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili saw red for a handball outside the box before the break, Xavi's side dominated and Lewandowski scored with two headers from corners in the 49th and 82nd minutes before getting his treble with a free-kick in added time.
The win postponed Real Madrid's almost inevitable LaLiga title celebrations for a couple of weeks as Carlo Ancelotti's side sit atop the standings on 84 points.
Barcelona moved back to second in LaLiga on Monday with 73 points as they leapfrogged surprise package Girona, who are third with 71. Those two teams will meet in a Catalonia derby on Saturday.
Data debrief
Barcelona conceded two goals in the first half of a home game for the second time this season, after also doing so against Girona in LaLiga in December 2023.
However, Lewandowski's goals have been invaluable to La Blaugrana this season as he's earned 17 points with his 16 goals in the league.
Preston 0-3 Leicester City: Foxes seal Championship title in style
Leicester City cruised to a 3-0 win over Preston in the Championship on Monday to clinch the title with a game to spare.
Jamie Vardy was the star for the Foxes as he scored in both halves before Kasey McAteer made sure of the points with an unmarked header.
Abdul Fatawu had the chance to cap an already memorable night for the travelling fans but hit the post with his curler.
Preston slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat, while Leicester go into their final game against Blackburn Rovers with the knowledge that they will lift the trophy after the final whistle.
Data Debrief
Jamie Vardy has scored 18 goals this season (two in this game), more than any other Leicester player in the competition. He has also netted in his last three games, scoring four goals in total.
It was a dominant performance from the Foxes, who had 19 shots with 11 of those on target. At the other end, Preston only managed to test Jakub Stolarczyk once from their five attempts.
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