Liam Manning secures first league win in charge of Norwich at Portsmouth

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

Manning's dream return to manage his boyhood club did not go as planned on the opening day, with the Canaries losing at home to Millwall.
But with 11 new faces arriving at Carrow Road this summer, hopes remain high for a play-off push after a disappointing campaign last season.
There was optimism at Fratton Park also, with Pompey winning their first fixture at Oxford, while they were also buoyed by the return from injury of former Norwich winger Josh Murphy.
But John Mousinho's side got off to the worst possible start when Darling headed in his first goal for Norwich unmarked from Marcelino Nunez's free-kick in the sixth minute.
Another defensive slip just a minute later let in Josh Sargent to score but this time Nicolas Schmid saved well with his knee.
Pompey responded well and forced a string of corners and were denied an equaliser when Vladan Kovacevic saved brilliantly from Regan Poole after the ball had been flicked to him at the far post.
But again they were undone by their own defensive frailties when Norwich scored from another set-piece. This time Darling was the provider, his long throw-in flicked on by Jose Cordoba to the far post where Sargent stole in to nod home.
That is how it stayed until half-time, though Norwich's impressive Chilean midfielder Nunez sustained an ankle injury late in the half and limped off just a few minutes after the break.
Mousinho waited until just before the hour mark to make his first change with Callum Lang being replaced by Florian Bianchini and they soon came close to pulling a goal back when Segecic saw his first shot turned over by Kovacevic.
The game seemed to be petering out when Pompey earned a penalty after Kellen Fisher brought down Bianchini on the left of the area. Kovacevic guessed correctly against Bishop and saved brilliantly to his left.
New Australian forward Segecic did give the hosts late hope as he fired a brilliant low show into the corner six minutes from time.
Norwich had to survive 10 minutes of added time, during which they appealed for another penalty when Connor Ogilvie went down under Jacob Wright's challenge. Instead the referee booked the Portsmouth defender for simulation.
Norwich survived a final scare when John Swift hit the bar with a controlled volley before the whistle went.