Victorious Norwich City manager Alex Neil has admitted that the red card shown to Christophe Berra in this afternoon's Championship playoff semi-final second leg against Ipswich Town gave his side the upper hand in the match.
After a tense, goalless first half, Ipswich centre-back Berra stopped Nathan Redmond's goal-bound shot with his hand to get sent off shortly after half time and give Norwich the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot.
Wes Hoolahan stuck the spot kick away to put Norwich on their way to a 3-1 victory on the day and 4-2 aggregate triumph against their arch-rivals.
Speaking to Sky Sports News shortly after the final whistle, Neil said: "I don't think there was much in the game. I think Ipswich came here and set up to frustrate us, get the crowd on top of us and force us to make errors in our own half.
"To be fair, I thought the game was relatively even in the first half. I don't think there was a great deal between the sides.
"I put Nathan Redmond and Wes Hoolahan into the side for a wee bit of quality and Steven Whittaker nicks the ball, Wes slides Nathan through and we manage to get a penalty and a red card off the back of it. That was the difference in the game, it completely changed the match."
Berra's sending off was the first time this season that Ipswich have had a player dismissed.
Norwich will face Middlesbrough for a place in the Premier League on Bank Holiday Monday after Aitor Karanka's men brushed aside Brentford 5-1 on aggregate last night.
Pascal Lemesre
