Wednesday 25 February 2015 00:06, UK
Norwich manager Alex Neil declared Bradley Johnson's stunning late winner as "worthy of winning any game" as it completed a turnaround to give the Canaries a 2-1 Sky Bet Championship win at Blackburn Rovers.
After falling behind to Alex Baptiste's header, Norwich responded impressively and got the win that their composed performance deserved thanks to a clinical Cameron Jerome strike midway through the half and Johnson's arrowed top corner effort six minutes from time.
It was the fifth consecutive win for Norwich, a seventh in nine under Neil and only their second ever win at Ewood Park.
And Neil praised Johnson's strike as Norwich remained four points from the top two in the Championship.
He said: "Bradley's capable of that. He's got a fantastic left foot. He's a real danger outside of the box and to be honest it was a goal worthy of winning any game and I was delighted he made contact with it."
Neil did not think it was his side's best performance but, after making it two wins from two with difficult trips to Watford and Blackburn, he was pleased with how his side responded to going a goal down and believes it will improve their confidence.
"I think performance-wise we've played better but a lot of credit has got to go to Blackburn. They were difficult to break down and we worked really hard. They've got a style of play that is difficult to play against," he said.
"In that respect I thought we played well at times. I didn't think we started the game well, we moved the ball too slow and when Blackburn scored it kicked us into life a little bit.
"We had a chat at half-time and a lot of credit has to go to the players in the second half. They rolled their sleeves up and showed how much it means to them to go and win the game and keep themselves in contention.
"I think it will (the win) confirm in the players' heads that what we're doing are the right things. It will give them a huge shot in the arm in terms of confidence to know that regardless of a setback in the game, they're capable of bouncing back and getting a win."
For Blackburn, the defeat ended a run of four games in all competitions without losing and a run of five Ewood encounters without tasting defeat.
They lie 15 points off the top six after this defeat, but while Rovers boss Gary Bowyer was disappointed after the defensive display of his team went unrewarded, he gave credit for Johnson's "wonderful" strike - the second time this season that the Norwich midfielder has inflicted such a goal on Blackburn.
He said: "To lose the game in the manner we did to such a wonderful strike, it's not a fluke from him. We experienced it late on at Carrow Road so the alarm bells were there for our boys. But sometimes you have to put your hands up and say what a wonderful strike it was.
"Hugely disappointing for us of course because we put a huge amount of effort into the game. At 2-1 down we were still fighting at the end but it didn't quite drop for us at the death.
"They're a fantastic team. They've got a great squad, the manager's doing a tremendous job and they've got that grit and winning mentality."
