Blackburn Rovers fall to two late goals from Norwich City

Norwich City scored twice late on to secure a 3-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Carrow Road on Tuesday night.

It took Blackburn less than a minute to break the deadlock as Tom Cairney allowed the ball to bounce 25 yards from goal before finding the top corner with an unstoppable strike.

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Blackburn's positive start seemed to take the hosts by surprise, but it wasn't long before the Canaries created a clear opportunity of their own when Paul Robinson was forced to block Nathan Redmond's effort.

The end-to-end nature of the match continued, with Alexander Tettey rattling the post with a powerful effort which left Robinson looking stranded.

Despite his protests, Jason Lowe gifted the hosts a chance to equalise when he handled inside the box, and Lewis Grabban managed to tap home after his penalty had been saved by Robinson.

The lively Redmond once again came close to finding the back of the net, but Robinson proved to be in fine form again as he pushed the winger's strike past the post.

It was a far less frantic start to the second half, and Norwich had to wait until after the hour mark for a couple of chances, with Ryan Bennett seeing a header saved by Robinson before striking the crossbar with another headed effort moments later.

Robinson denying Norwich had been a common theme throughout the night, but he was not finished frustrating the home supporters as the former England goalkeeper reacted impressively to push a Grabban header against the woodwork.

Blackburn could have snatched the lead against the run of play late on as Joshua King found space in the box before heading straight at John Ruddy.

The second goal finally arrived in the 87th minute as Wes Hoolahan picked out Bradley Johnson on the edge of the box, and the midfielder earned the lead by curling past a helpless Robinson.

Norwich managed to extend their advantage in the closing stages as a counter-attack resulted in Josh Murphy picking out Grabban, who drilled home his second of the night after seeing his initial effort blocked.