Philippe Clement credits players and supporters as Norwich beat QPR

New Norwich head coach Philippe Clement paid tribute to his side – and their supporters – after watching them end a near three-month wait for a win with an impressive 3-1 victory over QPR.

Their first victory at Carrow Road all season was built on an impressive first-half performance, having taken the lead nine minutes in when Emi Marcondes fired home from close range after his initial effort had been blocked.

Rumarn Burrell prodded home Sam Field’s cross to equalise less than two minutes later – but from then on Norwich took control and fully deserved their win.

An own goal from Amadou Mbengue, who inadvertently deflected in a Kenny McLean corner, restored their lead on 33 minutes and Amankwah Forson made it 3-1 two minutes later by finishing off a sweeping move down the left with an emphatic finish.

“Team work got us this result – and I am talking not only about the players and the staff I am talking about the fans as well, I’d like to stress that,” Clement said after a long overdue Championship success.

“I think they realised there was an improvement against Oxford on Tuesday (in a 1-1 draw) and today they were behind us right from the start, which really helped.

“I thought we played really well in the first half, we were confident with the ball and without the ball and found the places we were trying to find.

“The players stuck to the plan, even when we conceded, and we fully deserved to be 3-1 ahead at half-time.

“We could have been better in the second half but the team fought well, were resilient and won their duels to get the three points.”

Norwich remain four points adrift from safety despite the win and Clement added a note of caution, saying: “It is very important to stress we’re not there yet, it’s a massive job and there’s a lot of work to do over the coming weeks and months.

“We are not where we want to be as a club but if we can build we can get the results we need. I wouldn’t have come here if that wasn’t the case.”

QPR manager Julien Stephan admitted his side had got what they deserved.

Having briefly levelled, the visitors had no answer to Norwich’s impressive performance.

“In the first half we lacked the intensity and quality required and got punished,” he said.

“We changed it at half-time (with three substitutions) and although we were a bit better we needed to get a second goal early on and it didn’t come.

“We had a few chances but didn’t take them.

“In the end you have to congratulate Norwich on playing a good game and they deserved to win.

“But it has still been a good week for us, six points out of nine with two of those games being away, and we need to put this behind us.”