IRELAND U21 DEFENDER Andrew Omobamidele made his first senior start for Championship leaders Norwich City today but they had to settle for a draw due to a last-gasp Preston equaliser.
Brad Potts equalised with virtually the last kick of the game to give Preston a hard-earned point in a 1-1 draw in Frankie McAvoy’s first game in charge.
The hosts dramatically levelled late on to cancel out Emi Buendia’s early opener, moving them 10 points clear of the drop zone.
Norwich’s lead at the top has been cut to six points with seven games to go, second-placed Watford winning 1-0 against Sheffield Wednesday. Swansea in third play Birmingham City tonight while Brentford in fourth face Huddersfield Town tomorow.
Due to eight midweek international call-ups, Norwich were missing several of their normal starting line-up and in at centre-half came 18-year-old Omobamidele, who only made his first-team debut when coming on as a substittue against Cardiff City in January.
Raised in Lucan before moving to Leixlip, Omobamidele signed a new contract in Decemeber which commits him to Norwich until 2024. He has been on the books at Carrow Road since making the move from Leixlip United in the summer of 2018.
He played the whole of today’s game in defence and faced Ireland opponents in the second half with Jayson Molumby and Sean Maguire both introduced as substitutes for Preston.
🚨 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) April 2, 2021
◾️ Four changes from Blackburn
◾️ Omobamidele in for his first senior start
◾️ Mumba, Quintilla and Sorensen all come in pic.twitter.com/Ns1S9S2Ed3
The home side came close early on when Jordan Storey headed Ryan Ledson’s corner over the bar as North End played their first game under interim boss McAvoy following the departure of Alex Neil after three years in charge.
There was already more Preston attacking action than had been witnessed in the past few games at Deepdale but soon after the odds-on favourites for promotion hit the front.
Teemu Pukki’s run and shot was blocked by Liam Lindsay in a brave act that left him winded and temporarily incapacitated.
As he was clutching his stomach, the mercurial Buendia picked up the ball and curled a delightful left-footed effort inside the far post.
One of the internationals not to play in midweek was top scorer Pukki but he then uncharacteristically missed the target after being played in by Buendia. The Finland international ominously missed by a lesser margin minutes later.
He got even closer at the start of the second half but when racing clear again he struck the crossbar from close range as Iversen made himself big.
McAvoy made all five of his substitutes with 20 minutes to go before Norwich had made one knowing that all it would take was one moment after City’s wasteful finishing.
Unbelievably Pukki missed another golden opportunity, slotting just wide when played in by Buendia. Those missed chances came back to haunt Norwich as substitute Potts controlled in the area and fired a deflected effort past the diving Krul.
An controversial early own goal from Tom Lees gave second-placed Watford a 1-0 win at home to struggling Sheffield Wednesday.
The three points extended the Hornets’ winning run to six in a row and 10 from their last 11 matches as Xisco Munoz’s side boosted their automatic promotion chances.
Time is running out for Wednesday at the other end of the table, however, with the Owls having to battle on in Hertfordshire without manager Darren Moore after he tested positive for Covid-19.
The game ended up being decided in the seventh minute through an own goal that was hotly disputed.
Ismaila Sarr crossed from the right hoping to find Isaac Success but instead saw the ball turned into the Wednesday net by Owls centre-back Lees.
A raised flag indicating that Success had been offside saw the goal initially disallowed but referee Chris Kavanagh consulted with assistant Dan Cook and ruled that the Watford man had not been interfering with play.
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