Norwich City 1-0 Ipswich Town: Marcelino Nunez wins the East Anglian derby with a free kick

Ipswich Town’s hopes of automatic promotion to the Championship suffered a blow when the leaders were beaten by Norwich City in a thrilling East Anglian derby at Carrow Road.

For the first time in 15 Championship games, Ipswich have did not rating, and the wait for a first derby victory since 2009 means Kieran McKenna’s side might be in third place by the time Saturday’s matches finish at 3pm BST.

The Canaries strengthened their sixth place and increased their probabilities of qualifying for the play-offs with their eighth home victory in a row.

Norwich began with purpose, but clear possibilities on each side were at a premium.

Just after the first half, Josh Sargent had a shot at goal, but was knocked down by Axel Tuanzebe.

The home fans shouted for a red card and Tuanzebe protested that he had received the ball, the defender was shown a yellow card and Nunez was near winning a free-kick. It was a warning shot.

With seven minutes left in the half, Nunez hit a 25-yard field goal. His low, fierce shot passed a upset Vaclav Hladky.

There was much more fury in the stands as Sam Morsy and Sargent clashed with the latter scoring again, but the referee was unmoved.

Ipswich, the league’s leading scorer, took 63 minutes to get a try heading in the right direction, but Kieffer Moore’s header was little greater than a practice reminder for Angus Gunn.

Sam Hutchinson scored moments later but his effort was again frustratingly tame.

Norwich’s counter-attacking threat was particularly evident from Sargent’s side. In the seventieth minute, Hladky was forced to dam the striker’s shot before it found Borja Sainz, but he was unable to stop his motion.

Ipswich’s day was summed up when Leif Davis finally found space to play Conor Chaplin into the box, just for his shot to sail harmlessly into the stand.

They now have to look at second-placed Leeds cope with Coventry and third-placed Leicester cope with Birmingham to see where they finish in the table on Saturday.

Norwich manager David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk: :

“If I said in the past that the atmosphere at home was great, I wasn’t telling the truth – today was a special and wonderful day.

“Everyone saw how such an atmosphere could lead the team forward. I thought it was a deserved win – it took a while for Ipswich to get many chances.

“The way the defenders worked hard and fought was just great. To keep a clean sheet at home again, eight wins in a row against the league leaders and biggest rivals, was a fantastic afternoon.

“I’m very happy to be a part of it. This atmosphere was what we needed. Both teams worked hard and were at a very good tactical level. The only thing I can criticize is that we didn’t kill the match.”

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:

“I do not think we played at the level we desired to in a match like that, but I do not think it was a very high level match. Honestly, I do not think there was much to it.

“The game was quite comfortable for us [in the] first 20 minutes. We began pretty much after which in the 10 minutes there have been some decisions going against us that we didn’t see coming. They scored the first goal and that modified the atmosphere on the pitch.

“I do not think our intensity from a physical standpoint was at the level we wanted, it’s definitely not an effort.

“Everyone comes here with the best intentions. This is our third difficult match in a week. Wednesday’s match against Southampton was really filled with emotions. We have physical problems in the group, but I’m not going to deal with it. It was a very important match, a great atmosphere, which was brought on by many various aspects.