David Wagner rues missed chances after Norwich City own goal at Coventry

The Canaries were forced to split the points at the weekend

Norwich City's Dimitris Giannoulis reacts after team-mate Ben Gibson scores an own goal
Author: PA Sport StaffPublished 9th Oct 2023
Last updated 9th Oct 2023

Ben Gibson's late own goal handed Coventry a point as they came from a goal behind to draw 1-1 with Norwich.

Jonathan Rowe had prodded Norwich ahead in the first half before Gibson headed through his own net to prevent a first Coventry home defeat since April.

The Canaries came into the weekend with three away defeats on the bounce and had conceded the most goals away from home in the Championship.

David Wagner made four changes to his starting line-up and the Canaries made the brighter start as former Coventry academy graduate Sam McCallum fizzed a cross across goal which narrowly evaded the sliding Adam Idah.

Rowe, Gabriel Sara and Idah all had efforts at goal inside the opening six minutes as Norwich looked for an early opener.

Wagner rued the missed chances that could have seen his side double their lead in the second half as he reflected on a hard-fought point on the road following three consecutive away defeats.

"The result is because we conceded so late, even if I can say I think it was a fair result." said the former Huddersfield boss. "I was very pleased with how the players execute our idea, to give Coventry a little bit possession, make sure we defend from a low block and be a threat on the transition.

"I think it worked, they put in a real shift. Obviously, you have to defend your crosses and you have to have some blocks but there were no real big chances which I've seen over a long period.

"We scored a great counter press goal and had two further golden opportunities from Adam Idah and Liam Gibbs where we have to kill the game, especially in the second half where we had this period of 25-30 minutes where we were very comfortable on the ball, there we have to kill the game and this is unfortunately what we haven't done.

"If you defend crosses then always a mistake can happen what happened and then you concede a goal and obviously the feeling is totally different even if you have done exactly the same game, exactly the same performance because the outcome is different, but I was pleased with the effort, with the togetherness, with the commitment, it was a hard fought point which they deserved."