Norwich City: Boss Wagner praises 'togetherness' after Stoke draw

The Canaries were forced to a settle for a point at the Bet365 stadium

Author: PA Sport StaffPublished 19th Mar 2023

Norwich City boss David Wagner says he was pleased with the "fighting spirit" shown by his Canaries side, despite between held to a 0 - 0 draw by Stoke.

The Potters wasted a string of chances against the Canaries, who had goalkeeper Angus Gunn to thank for a series of smart saves on their travels.

International forward Josh Sargent had a glorious chance to fire the visitors ahead in the sixth minute, but he dragged his shot wide of the target having been left with a one-on-one with Stoke keeper Jack Bonham.

The miss could have been costly but Norwich keeper Gunn saved well from striker Jacob Brown's goalbound header soon after.

Striker Teemu Pukki went within a whisker of firing the visitors ahead just three minutes after the restart, but the Finland international rifled wide.

Norwich boss David Wagner praised his side, despite the failure to secure three vaulable points.

"I'm very pleased with the performance, especially the fighting spirit and togetherness we showed," said Wagner.

"We really had to stick together after a really tough week - and the players have done this.

"We had three games in six days and have had injury problems, so we really, really had to fight to earn something.

"We had a very good opportunity to score with the very first opportunity of the game, but Stoke had some very good opportunities as well and Gunny Gunn was fantastic.

"I'm very happy for him, it was a fantastic performance from him.

"In the second half we had some good counter moments, but unfortunately we were not able to use.

"I'm really pleased with the performance, particularly defensively."

With the battling draw seeing the Canaries move a point closer to a play-off place, Wagner added: "We are looking forward to our next eight games now, everything is clear, we are just three points behind the places, which makes it interesting.

"We can turn this season into a successful season, but I have never had more belief than after this game.

"I've got a lot of self-belief the players are committed and the players will push in the last eight games as hard as we can to get into the play-offs."

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