A goal in either half from Bradley Johnson and Lewis Grabban gave Norwich City a 2-0 victory over Town in the East Anglian derby at Carrow Road. Johnson opened the scoring on 24 with a strike off the underside of the bar with Grabban adding the second in the 62nd minute.
Town boss Mick McCarthy handed Richard Chaplow his full Blues debut at the most advanced point of a midfield diamond ahead of Cole Skuse with Kevin Bru on the right and Jay Tabb on the left.
Paul Anderson and Jonny Parr dropped to the bench, while Teddy Bishop missed out with the ankle injury he suffered in training.
David McGoldrick (thigh), Darren Ambrose, Stephen Hunt (both hamstring), Noel Hunt and Luke Hyam (knee) had all previously been ruled out. Former Northgate High School pupil Hyam watched the game fro the away end.
Chris Wood, who signed on loan from Leicester on Friday, was on the bench alongside 17-year-old first-year scholar Kundai Benyu, who was in the matchday 18 for the first time.
The game started in a swirling wind with the home side threatening first in the third minute when Lewis Grabban was found on the right of the area, but Tyrone Mings got across to muscle him off the ball.
Norwich felt they ought to have been awarded a penalty in the seventh minute when Grabban was tackled by Tommy Smith. Referee Paul Tierney awarded a corner but replays suggested the Canaries might have had a case. From the second of two flag-kicks the ball was cleared to Jonny Howson, who volleyed well wide.
There was a scare for the Blues on 13 when Chaplow allowed Howson to send over a cross from the left after a corner from the right had been sent too deep. Norwich Johnson flicked a header which Berra blocked, then Murphy cleared the loose ball.
Skuse picked up the game’s first booking in the 16th minute for catching Johnson with a high boot as the home side broke on halfway.
The majority of the first 20 minutes had been played in the Norwich half but without the Blues having been able to create a chance. When in decent areas all too often a pass had been lacking at the crucial moment.
Much the same was the case in the 23rd minute when Chaplow won the ball on the right and broke into the area but failed to find Murphy with his cross.
A minute later the home side went in front. Wes Hoolahan fed Grabban on the right and the striker’s low cross caught Berra’s heel and found Johnson rushing into the area on the left, from where he smashed a shot into the net off the underside of the bar.
The Blues looked to hit straight back but Murphy failed to get anything on a shot from the edge of the box and Norwich keeper Ruddy claimed comfortably.
Town weren’t far away from an equaliser in the 31st minute when Bru won the ball midway inside the Blues’ half and sent Murphy away down the left. The Irishman crossed low to Sears, who touched the ball past his defender before shooting. However, the touch had allowed Ruddy time to come off his line and the keeper blocked.
Sears hit a 20-yard strike from the left which Ruddy saved to his left on 35, then three minutes later Hoolahan hit a looping effort from further out which Bartosz Bialkowski claimed.
Neither side threatened again before referee Tierney’s whistle signalled the half-time break.
Having gone in front the home side had largely been on top without particularly threatening to add to their lead. The well-worked goal was the one time they had cut through the Blues during the first half.
But Town were far form out of it, having continued to battle away in their usual manner and they might well have been on terms but for Ruddy’s impressive save from Sears.
Aside from that and Sears’s effort from distance soon after, Town hadn’t managed to test the home keeper on too many more occasions in a derby of few chances at either end.
Luke Varney replaced Chaplow at start of the second half and the Blues went close soon after the restart when Johnson inadvertently smashed Tabb’s freekick in from the left over his own crossbar.
On 53 Berra did well to cut out Grabban’s cross from the left, then from the corner Johnson headed wide. Two minutes later Grabban hit a low shot through to Bialkowski which failed to trouble the Polish keeper.
Sears saw a strike blocked on 58 with Town beginning to put the home side under a bit of pressure. Three minutes later, Norwich swapped Nathan Redmond for Cameron Jerome.
Within a minute of coming on the former Cardiff man inadvertently created the second goal for Grabban. Having been forced wide to the left by Berra, Jerome cut in and hit a shot which struck Mings, deflected off Grabban and trickled over the line.
As the Blues looked to get back into the game Ruddy saved from Sears from distance on 67, then two minutes later Parr replaced Bru in the Blues midfield.
It might have been 3-0 in the 73rd minute when Jerome was threaded through on goal but Bialkowski came off his line quickly to save.
Despite the match appearing lost the Blues kept going and twice threatened in the 76th minute. After Ruddy had dropped a cross, the ball was returned into the box and Sears and then Parr both had shots blocked.
With 11 minutes left on the clock new signing Wood took over from 21-goal Championship top scorer Murphy.
Sears almost created a goal for Town in the 81st minute. Tabb took a quick freekick and the former Colchester man chipped a cross over Ruddy but Johnson headed off the line and Sebastian Bassong nodded over.
Three minutes later Mings was booked for a foul on Howson. From the freekick, Canaries skipper Russell Martin stabbed into the side-netting at the far post.
Wood flicked a header wide from a Parr cross after a Town freekick in the 86th minute with the Blues continuing to look for a goal which would never come.
Paul Tierney’s whistle signalled Norwich’s victory - their fourth derby in a row for the first time in their history - a result which sees the Canaries move up to third and the Blues remain in sixth.
While there wasn’t a huge amount in the game and Town had one or two chances, the home side played the more controlled football for the most part and took their best first-half chance, while the Blues failed to take theirs.
The somewhat flukey second goal came at a time when Town were starting to impose themselves on the game. The Blues kept pushing and carved out one or two half-chances but never really looked like getting back into the game once they had gone two goals behind.
Norwich: Ruddy, Whittaker, Martin (c), Bassong, Olsson, Tettey, Johnson, Redmond (Jerome 61 (Hooper 90)), Howson, Hoolahan (Dorrans 83), Grabban. Unused: Rudd, Turner, Hooper, Andreu, Garrido.
Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Skuse, Bru (Parr 69), Chaplow (Varney 46), Bru, Murphy, Sears. Unused: Gerken, Clarke, Anderson, Benyu. Referee: Paul Tierney (Lancashire). Attendance: 27,005.