Jonas Knudsen hit the post and David McGoldrick headed over but Town’s home derby against Norwich City remains 0-0 at half-time.

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 David 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 Jonas 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.

If the second half follows a similar pattern, but with more clinical finishing, Town could well claim their first derby win in eight and a half years.

Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Chambers (c), Webster, Knudsen, Nydam, Adeyemi, Skuse, Waghorn, Garner, McGoldrick. Subs: Gerken, Iorfa, Celina, Connolly, Ward, Sears, Downes.

Norwich: Gunn, Pinto (c), Zimmermann, Klose, Stiepermann, Reed, Trybull, Hoolahan, Maddison, Wildschut, Jerome. Subs: McGovern, Husband, Vrancic, Oliveira, Murphy, Franke, Hanley. Referee: Tim Robinson (West Sussex).

Photo: TWTD

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