Saturday, February 11, 2012

Swansea 2 - 3 Norwich

Holt double stuns Swansea


Nathan Dyer and Adam Drury Swansea vs Norwich

Grant Holt scored twice as Norwich produced a stirring second-half fight-back to leave Swansea licking their wounds following only their second home defeat of the season at the Liberty Stadium.

Trailing 1-0 at the interval following Danny Graham's 23rd minute opener, Paul Lambert's men turned the battle of the two promoted sides on its head courtesy of Holt's brace and Anthony Pilkington's deflected effort.

The Swans took the lead courtesy of a typically sweet move, with Gylfi Sigurdsson feedingNathan Dyer, whose quick feet and clever pass allowed Graham to lift his shot way out of John Ruddy's reach and into the top corner.

But Lambert's half-time team-talk clearly had the desired effect as they transformed an interval deficit into a 3-1 advantage in less than 20 minutes, with Holt's header from Elliott Ward's looping overhead cross restoring parity almost immediately.

Pilkington then put the visitors in front in the 51st minute after a great ball from the influential Elliott Bennett, although the winger's shot looked to be covered by the unfortunate Michel Vorm until it took a huge deflection off Neil Taylor.

Bennett had a hand in the third too as a swift Canaries break opened up the home defence and allowed Holt to drill under Vorm, with the Swans goalkeeper later making excellent saves from Kyle Naughton and Wes Hoolahan to prevent a more comprehensive defeat.

Holt made life difficult for his side with a blatant pull of Ashley Williams' shirt, allowing Graham to slot home from the penalty spot in the 87th minute, with the powerful striker perhaps fortunate to avoid a red card following his earlier booking for removing his shirt in celebration.

The equaliser set up a grandstand finish, with Vorm denying Steve Morison before Graham was inches away from his hat-trick and a last-gasp leveller when he diverted Sigurdsson's cross narrowly wide of Ruddy's far post, with the keeper then tipping over Steven Caulker's header.