Football Feb 04, 2026

Norwich City 2-1 Coventry City: Anis Ben Slimane and Ali Ahmed seal Canaries comeback win

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By Admin
Sports Journalist
Norwich City 2-1 Coventry City: Anis Ben Slimane and Ali Ahmed seal Canaries comeback win

Coventry failed to re-establish their six-point lead at the top of the Championship table as Norwich hit back to beat them 2-1.

Romain Esse put the Sky Blues ahead shortly before the break at Carrow Road, but the Canaries turned it around in the second half with goals from Anis Ben Slimane and Ali Ahmed.

It was a win that continued the resurgence of Norwich under Philippe Clement, lifting them up to 18th in the table - four points clear of the bottom three.

Coventry remain three points ahead of second-placed Middlesbrough, and eight ahead of Ipswich in third, but they still have a game in hand.

Norwich had the better of the first half, with Ben Slimane and Kellen Fisher both failing to make the most of decent openings before the hosts came desperately close to taking the lead after 27 minutes.

A corner from the right was only half-cleared and fell nicely for defender Jose Cordoba, who saw his sweetly-struck low drive come back off a post before the ball was hacked to safety.

Despite having plenty of possession, the Sky Blues had not managed an effort on goal up to that point - but they made their first clear chance count in the 38th minute.

Ruairi McConville did well to block a snapshot from Victor Torp, however Esse was in close attendance and picked up the loose ball before drilling home to give the visitors the lead against the run of play.

Coventry almost made it 2-0 three minutes later, with Vladan Kovacevic needing to be at his best to palm away a rising drive from Hadji Wright.

Norwich were on level terms within 35 seconds of the restart after making an electrifying start to the second half.

Recent signing Ali Ahmed slipped in Ben Slimane on the left and the midfielder took the ball past Carl Rushworth before sliding it home, with an attempted goal-line clearance from Jay Dasilva proving unsuccessful.

Ephron Mason-Clark saw a header come back off the crossbar as the rattled Sky Blues sought a response, but it was Norwich who scored again to turn the game on its head.

Liam Kitching set up the opportunity by carelessly coughing up possession in his own half, allowing half-time substitute Papa Diallo to run free before squaring the ball across for an unmarked Ahmed to gleefully side-foot home.

Coventry pressed hard for an equaliser, but failed to seriously trouble a rejuvenated home side who saw out a third straight win.

Norwich's Philippe Clement:

"We had good opportunities in the first half where we missed a bit of quality in the last third. I knew physically we could give an extra push in the second half, something we couldn't do two months ago.

"We could bring on fresh players. I expected that the game would open up even more and we kept our pressing because otherwise Coventry would have taken control of the ball. Our pressing is very important and you need the right energy for that.

"We need to be happy with the result and the players can enjoy this evening. But we face second in the league in a few days and we need to think about that next.

"I'm really happy with how the team is responding to what we tell them and how hard they've worked. It's only been 10 or 11 weeks we've been together, and I'm happy they get the reward for all the hard work."

Coventry's Frank Lampard:

"You lose a football match if you fall below standards in this league. We gifted their goals, particularly the second, and it's proved crucial. We could have scored more goals ourselves, but there were errors at both ends of the pitch.

"At half-time we wanted to continue well, but we didn't and it gave them momentum to get back into the game.

"Liam Kitching has been fantastic for us this season and I won't hold [the mistake for the second goal] him. You can make mistakes in football and you have to stick together.

"I was under no illusions when we were more points clear at the top that there are tough matches everywhere in this league and it's a long season. The players know we made mistakes we don't usually make."

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