Burnley head coach Scott Parker was impressed with his side’s second-half turnaround as they recovered from the shock of conceding an early goal to beat Norwich with a 2-1 Championship comeback win at Carrow Road.
The Clarets moved back up to third – just one point behind second-placed Leeds – after putting Jose Corboda’s early goal behind them in an impressive second-half performance that was capped off by two goals in eight minutes from Zian Flemming and Josh Brownhill.
“We started the game very slowly and weren’t nearly good enough in the first half and I made that clear to the players at half-time,” said Parker.
“We didn’t engage in the game enough, we didn’t give ourselves a platform to get into it.
“I told them what we needed to do differently and to a man they did exactly what was asked of them in the second half to come away for a difficult place with a massive three points.
“I needed a reaction and I got it – which says everything about this group of players.”
Flemming’s equaliser was cracked home from over 30 yards after Norwich had allowed him space at a tapped free-kick, and Parker was full of praise for the Dutchman, adding: “He’s got that in him and it’s something we see in training sometimes.
“It was a fantastic goal, a candidate for goal of the season I would have thought.”
Norwich got off to a dream start, with defender Cordoba heading home Marcelino Nunez’s corner after just 64 seconds.
But Burnley gradually worked their way back into the match and were rewarded with the equaliser midway through the second period.
A free-kick midway inside the Norwich half was tapped short to Flemming and with the home defence backing off, the Dutch substitute took several purposeful steps forward before finding the top corner with a stunning strike.
Another precise finish from a lot closer in settled it eight minutes later.
This time Kellen Fisher’s mistimed header fell nicely for Brownhill and Burnley’s top scorer needed no second invitation to blast home his seventh goal of the season.
Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup was disappointed with the way his team let the game slip.
“I was very pleased with the first half – there were many good things, the chances we created, the way we defended against a very good side,” he said.
“The only disappointing thing was that we didn’t get a second goal.
“Then a couple of guys switch off at a free-kick. It was a fantastic goal but you should never turn your back on the ball like that.
“I am not happy with the second goal either. We are on the attack, looking to create a big chance and then we lose the ball and don’t defend well enough after that.
“There were still some positives to take from the game but this shows that we have to be at our maximum to take something from games like this.
“We are not one of the top teams in the league – we need another 10-15 percent on a regular basis to be that – and that is something we are working hard to achieve.”
