Liam Manning lauds in-form Norwich hero Josh Sargent as ‘best 9’ in Championship

Norwich boss Liam Manning described Josh Sargent as the Championship’s ‘best 9’ after his brace secured a 2-0 win at 10-man Blackburn.

Sargent, the game’s outstanding performer, gave Blackburn’s defence a torrid afternoon and his movement caused Sean McLoughlin to bring him down in the area, earning him a red card.

The American clinically dispatched the penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Norwich weren’t at their best after the break and relied on imperious goalkeeping from Vladan Kovacevic, who thwarted Rovers on three occasions, including an outstanding double save to deny Augustus Kargbo, tipping onto a post before smothering the rebound.

But Sargent showed all afternoon he could hurt his opponents at a moment’s notice and smashed home a fifth league goal in four games in stoppage time.

He has scored in every game he’s played so far this season and Manning believes his striker is the league’s best and expects him to be a Norwich player by the end of the transfer window.

He said: “He’s a constant handful. I think he’s so intelligent with the positions he takes up.

“He’s so sharp over the first metres, I think you see that with the penalty. His body shape and how quickly he gets in behind. He’s the best 9 at this level for me and we’re delighted to have him here. Long may it continue.

“You see the threat he carries. The movement, the sharpness to get in behind for the penalty. It produces such high-level actions.

“I gave him a bit of stick because, for me, he had a couple of other really good chances which for the standards I know he sets himself, he’ll take in future, I think that’s the biggest bit.

“He epitomises everything. If you look at him and Kenny (McLean), the leadership they’re developing and showing and bringing to the team was really important today. I’m delighted Sarge has got off to such a good start.

“As it stands, that’s where I see it being (Sargent staying). There’s nothing I’m aware of. I think it would have to take something unbelievable for anything to be done.”

It’s three defeats in four for Blackburn and boss Valerien Ismael felt the penalty was the ‘one moment’ that decided the game and his team also weren’t ruthless when their chances came.

He said: “One moment decided the game, the long ball and we defended not that well. The penalty and red card changed the game completely.

“At half-time it was another gameplan. In the first half, it was a typical 50/50 game. Maybe for us less chances to create but the last passes and penetration wasn’t there. You have to stay calm, get 0-0 at half-time and have chance to adjust but it was another gameplan.

“I said to the players it’s all about managing the game, stay in the game as long as possible, at some point Norwich will start to get nervous and that’s exactly what happened.

“The second thing I told them is when we got the chance, we have to be ruthless. Unfortunately, we got two big chances to score but we didn’t.

“It would have been the right result, one point, especially when you see the second half. The second goal doesn’t reflect the game.”