Along Come Norwich Flashback – Norwich City 2 – 0 Brighton & Hove Albion (2017 – H)

Story of the match

Despite three points at Preston the previous weekend our destiny to finish outside the play-offs had already been sealed by results elsewhere, meaning the focus of the Sky Sports pundits for this Friday night fixture was firmly on visitors Brighton – already promoted, on a five-game winning streak, and able to seal the Championship title with victory.

But there was plenty of Norwich narrative nonetheless. The reverse fixture in late October had been a rare Chris Hughton demolition job on his former side, a horrendous 5-0 defeat that Alex Neil had described as his “worst defeat as a manager”. Six months on and Neil was gone, with Alan Irvine on caretaker duties. Meanwhile, Alex Pritchard’s infamous U-turn from the Amex to Carrow Road the previous August was still needling those on the south coast.

Perhaps still nursing the hangovers from their promotion the previous Monday, the visitors threatened little in the opening stages and it was City who took the lead in the 18th minute, Pritchard’s rising shot from outside the box striking the bar but rebounding in off the back of goalkeeper David Stockdale. Shortly before half time it was two, bizarrely in almost exactly the same fashion – a shot from Pritchard from outside the box striking the woodwork, this time the right-hand post, and again coming off Stockdale’s back and in. Two own goals off the same player’s shot and a title party in tatters – no wonder it took Stockdale a while to drag himself up off the turf.

The outcome was never really in doubt from that point on, despite our own shot on target tally remaining stubbornly at zero. More entertaining was the standing ovation Stockdale received as he ran toward the Barclay at the start of the second half, and the chants ringing around a demob-happy Carrow Road of “Your defence is terrified, Stockdale’s on fire” and “David Stockdale, he would have scored that”.

Long term significance

This game came with the club at a crossroads – two weeks earlier Stuart Webber had arrived from Huddersfield, and by the end of the following month an unknown coach called Daniel Farke was through the door. The club’s financial constraints would mean he would reluctantly let Pritchard go the opposite way to Webber the following January to follow his Premier League dream, scoring three goals in three and a half seasons at the Terriers. Released in the summer, he is now at  *checks notes* Sunderland, where he hasn’t exactly set the Stadium of Light alight so far.

You may have forgotten that

Before the game there were some entrepreneurial fellows who had set up stall outside Carrow Road piled high with blue and white Brighton Champions 2016-17 scarves – and with in-form Albion seven points clear of Newcastle with three games remaining, who can blame them for cashing in on the excitable away support?

What happened in the rest of that season?

Our remaining two games were similarly eventful. First we threw away a 3-0 lead at Elland Road to draw 3-3 – Leeds’ run of five without a win to end the season saw them miss out on the play-offs – and then it was the Wes Hoolahan Show at Carrow Road as he picked up the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy before scoring twice in a 4-0 win against QPR.

Newcastle’s wins against Preston and Cardiff, combined with defeat for the Seagulls at home to Bristol City, kept the champagne on ice at the Amex and sent them into the final day of the season with their advantage cut to a point. While Rafa Benitez’s side cruised to a 3-0 win at home to Barnsley, Brighton looked to have done enough to hang on to top spot as they took a second-half lead at Villa Park – that is, until a certain Jack Grealish popped up in the 89th minute to equalise for ten-man Villa. Almost as quickly as the news had filtered through to the transistor radios of St James’ Park that Newcastle had nicked the title by 94 points to Albion’s 93, those premature scarves had transformed into a collectors’ item; I’ve just looked on eBay and you can buy one today for a mere £17.99.