Town’s long wait for East Anglian derby glory continues after James Maddison’s 59th minute goal saw Norwich City to a 1-0 victory at Portman Road. The Blues, who haven't beaten the Canaries since April 2009, will feel they deserved something from the game having been the better side in a first half in which Jonas Knudsen hit the post and David McGoldrick headed over when he will feel he should have scored.
Joe Garner, Tom Adeyemi and Jordan Spence returned to the Town starting line-up with Dominic Iorfa dropping to the bench along with Grant Ward, while Myles Kenlock was left out of the 18.
Garner began the game as part of a front three along with Martyn Waghorn to his right and McGoldrick to his left, while Adeyemi, who came through the youth system with the Canaries before making a handful of senior appearances for the Norfolk side, was in a three-man midfield with Cole Skuse and Tristan Nydam.
Spence was on the right of a back four with skipper Luke Chambers to the right of Adam Webster in the centre and Knudsen at left-back.
For the Canaries, Marco Stiepermann replaced James Husband at left-back following a groin injury, while Wes Hoolahan, playing in his 10th East Anglian derby, was in midfield for Marco Vrancic.
Town hit the first shot of the game in the third minute, but Waghorn’s scuffed strike from the right failed to trouble Angus Gunn in the Norwich goal.
Despite the Canaries having most of the early possession, the Blues began to threaten on the break.
On five McGoldrick fed Garner on the right, the former Rangers man crossed too deep and Norwich skipper Ivo Pinto seemed set to clear. However, the Portuguese defender tried to turn inside Knudsen, running into the Dane as he did so.
Knudsen, a scorer for Town in the last two East Anglian derbies, picked up the loose ball and took it into the left of the area before hitting a shot across Gunn which beat the keeper but slammed off the post and away.
Town continued to look a danger on the break and on 11 the Blues had another opportunity, a loose ball falling to Waghorn on the right of the box after a corner but his shot curved well wide and eventually went out for a throw.
Norwich threatened for the first time two minutes later, Stiepermann finding a lot of space on the left but shooting well wide.
Yanic Wildschut saw a subsequent effort diverted behind by Chambers then at the other end McGoldrick shot not too far over from 25 yards.
The Blues caught the Canaries on the break again in the 16th minute but McGoldricks’s threaded pass was too far in front of Knudsen.
Then, after James Maddison had shot wide for Norwich, Waghorn teed-up Nydam at the edge of the box but the 17-year-old was crowded out.
Wildschut was next to take a pop on the 18-yard line but Bartosz Bialkowski saved with little fanfare, as he did on 23 when Stiepermann hit a subsequent effort from a similar distance after a Norwich break.
Other than Knudsen’s strike off the post both sides had been limited to shots from the edge of the area and beyond, and on 25 Maddison tried his luck but curled wide.
Garner flicked a header wide from a left-sided corner in the 28th minute, then two minutes later Waghorn flicked a bouncing ball towards goal but too close to Gunn. Nydam behind him might have been able to be more controlled with his finish had the ball reached him.
Spence picked up the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Tom Tryball in the 32nd minute.
Nydam made a superb challenge as Wildschut broke into the area a minute later, then Cameron Jerome got his first sight at goal from a cross from the left but headed well over.
Stiepermann did well to turn a dangerous Town ball from the left behind at the far post ahead of Garner, before McGoldrick volleyed a Waghorn ball in from the left back in the direction from which it came from. Moments later, Adeyemi headed a Knudsen cross from the left well wide.
Town should have taken the lead in the 40th minute after they had been awarded a rather fortuitous freekick, Nydam having slipped as he ran in behind Pinto on the left.
Waghorn whipped over the freekick and McGoldrick headed over from six yards, his marker having lost his footing as the ball came across.
Moments before the half-time whistle, Waghorn had the ball in the Norwich net but the flag having been raised for offside well beforehand.
Town would have deserved the lead had they gone in a goal in front, Knudsen’s shot off the post and McGoldrick’s header over having the best chances of the first 45 minutes, and they had looked the more threatening of the two sides.
Norwich had been largely restricted to shots from distance, while the Blues had defended well when the Canaries had managed to break into the box.
Garner scuffed a half-volley wide after Spence had nodded down a Webster cross-field ball as the second half started much as the first had ended. On 50 Maddison made himself look somewhat foolish with a very obvious dive as Knudsen saw the ball out of play.
Garner headed a dangerous Norwich freekick from the left clear on 53, with Skuse seeing the ball behind after Hoolahan had fed in Maddison on the left of the box.
Town weren’t too far away from taking the lead in the 54th minute when Spence was sent away in space on the right and sent over a cross to the near post for McGoldrick, whose flicked header flew just beyond the far post.
After Skuse had undergone treatment on the pitch, Jerome hit a low shot through to Bialkowski on 58 and a minute later the Canaries took the lead.
Wildschut brought the ball forward and fed Stiepermann on the left, and the full-back cut back to the unmarked Maddison, whose shot beat Bialkowski to his left.
On 6 6Norwich, who had been on top having gone ahead, were forced to replace Christoph Zimmerman with Grant Hanley, then a minute later Flynn Downes took over from Adeyemi for Town.
Chambers was yellow-carded for a foul on Maddison in the centre circle in the 71st minute, then a minute later Downes joined him in the book, although he appeared to win the ball as he challenged Trybull.
Town had looked short of ideas having gone behind and on 76 manager Mick McCarthy swapped Garner and Nydam for Freddie Sears and Bersant Celina. A minute later Norwich switched Hoolahan for James Husband.
The Blues began to make some headway as the game entered its final minutes, a grounded Waghorn turning a shot through to Gunn, then from a Knudsen long throw on the left Skuse scuffed a shot from the edge of the box which Gunn claimed.
On 86 Skuse hit another effort from even further out which deflected through to Gunn, then Celina saw a strike blocked with McGoldrick unable to find the space to hit another effort.
Seconds after the fourth official indicated four additional minutes of time, the Blues went close to an equaliser. Waghorn battled for the ball on the edge of the box before chipping over Gunn but an inch or so past the post.
In the dying seconds Knudsen headed a Waghorn corner from the left wide before referee Tim Robinson confirmed Town’s defeat.
The Blues, who derby winless run stretches back eight and a half years, will be left rueing their failure to make their first-half superiority tell, Knudsen’s shot off the post and McGoldrick’s header over the best opportunities.
The Canaries had rarely threatened until Maddison’s goal but from there they saw out the rest of the game largely in comfort with Town not looking like getting back into the game until the closing stages.
A derby defeat, particularly one at home, is always painful, however this was a game the Blues will feel they should never have lost and indeed ought to have won.
Town, who have lost six of their last eight in the league, drop to 11th in the table following the weekend results with Burton Albion their next opponents at the Pirelli Stadium next Saturday.
Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Chambers (c), Webster, Knudsen, Nydam (Celina 76), Adeyemi (Downes 67), Skuse, Waghorn, Garner (Sears 76), McGoldrick. Unused: Gerken, Iorfa, Celina, Connolly, Ward, Sears, Downes.
Norwich: Gunn, Pinto (c), Zimmermann (Hanley 66), Klose, Stiepermann, Reed, Trybull, Hoolahan (Husband 77), Maddison (Vrancic 89), Wildschut, Jerome. Unused: McGovern, Husband, Vrancic, Oliveira, Murphy, Franke. Referee: Tim Robinson (West Sussex). Att: 24,928 (Norwich: 2,009).