Norwich head coach David Wagner was delighted with his side’s hard-fought 1-0 win over QPR – despite admitting it had been a below-par attacking performance from his side.
The Canaries made it back-to-back wins in the Championship after a poor run that had seen Wagner’s position called into question, with Hwang Ui-jo’s 21st-minute goal settling a scrappy encounter.
That proved to be the hosts’ only effort on target but the boss wasn’t complaining afterwards.
“I think a 1-0 win like that is perhaps the best sort of win for me in the circumstances,” said Wagner.
“Everyone knows we can score goals – the stats tell you that – but we have been conceding too many goals and to keep a clean sheet was very pleasing.
“We were very organised defensively, kept them as far away from our goal as possible, and didn’t give them many chances.
“The guys out there all did their job because as a team we need to be more solid than we have been.
“Was it our most entertaining game offensively? No, but you can’t always score two or three goals to win a game and that is back-to-back wins now, which feels good, certainly much better than it did a few weeks ago.”
Wagner was full of praise for Hwang, who has been the subject of allegations regarding his personal life in his home country.
“It hasn’t been easy for him but his head is with us and he proved what a good footballer he is,” said Wagner.
“He has great technique, good work ethic and he understands the game well. He took his goal really well and gave us 70 minutes or so, which is more than I expected after his international duty.”
A scrappy game with a scarcity of goalmouth action at either end was settled by a well-taken goal from South Korean striker Hwang, who is on loan at Carrow Road from Nottingham Forest.
A pass through the middle from Gabriel Sara caught the visiting defence napping and Hwang was able to run through unopposed before beating Asmir Begovic with a powerful low shot into the bottom corner.
That was just about the only clear-cut opportunity Norwich created all afternoon while it was a similar story for the visitors, with a stoppage-time strike from Sam Field that flew narrowly wide perhaps their best moment.
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes felt his side had competed well but admitted they needed to improve in and around the opposition box.
“In the three games since I took over we have competed well and certainly haven’t been worse than any of our opponents,” he said when reflecting on start of two draws and a defeat.
“I have seen some good things in all our performances – and I have seen improvements again today.
“We were well organised and played the ball around well at times but the most important thing here is the result and I am obviously not happy with that.
“What we need is more sharpness in the final third, in and around the box. We need to be able to penetrate and score goals, otherwise all the other good things don’t count for anything.
“What I have seen here so far both during games and on the training pitch is a group of players who are committed to the cause and are working hard to turn things around – now we need to get the results to go with that.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Campbell gives Sheffield United victory in Steel City derby, Rodriguez strikes late for Burnley
Sheffield United joined leaders Sunderland at the top of the Championship table after a hard-fought 1-0 win against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
After a goalless first half, Tyrese Campbell latched onto a pass from Callum O'Hare and slotted past Wednesday goalkeeper James Beadle for the winner five minutes into the second period.
This was the Blades' sixth consecutive clean sheet at Bramall Lane and their fourth straight win home or away, and sees them go level with Sunderland on 31 points from 15 matches.
Meanwhile, Burnley are four points behind the top two after they snatched a last-gasp 1-0 victory against visitors Swansea City.
Jay Rodriguez's stoppage-time penalty secured the points for the Clarets at Turf Moor, ending their four-match winless run and climbing to fourth in the table.
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