Philippe Clement hails ‘amazing’ progress as Norwich hit 50 points

Norwich head coach Philippe Clement paid tribute to his players after watching them pass the 50-point mark for the season with 2-0 home win over Preston.

Despite being some way below their best Norwich still made it nine wins in 11 Championship encounters, with two first-half goals settling a scrappy encounter.

The Canaries got their noses in front on 17 minutes when keeper Daniel Iversen pushed away Mathias Kvistgaarden’s shot into a dangerous area and Ali Ahmed was on hand to bury the loose ball.

The crucial second goal arrived six minutes before the break, with skipper Kenny McLean curling home a delicious 30-yard free-kick.

Preston had more of the ball and more of the clear-cut chances, with Daniel Jebbison lobbing just wide early on and substitute Brad Potts somehow missing from close range at the end, but Norwich held on for a hard-fought win.

“To have got where we are today is a remarkable achievement from all the squad,” said Clement. “We had nine points after 15 games and in the next 22 we have taken 42 points – that’s an amazing number.

“As I have said many times, it is my ambition to win every game and I want that same mentality from the players.

“I thought it was a good first half from us – we scored two good goals and played some good football against aggressive opponents.

“In the second half Preston came at us and it got a bit scrappy and I think the referee could have produced some yellow cards a bit earlier.

“But you can’t play sexy football all the time. Sometimes you need to find the solution to win a match, to fight for the result.

“So it was good to get through the second half with a clean sheet and come away with the three points.”

Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom said he felt his side deserved to take something from a game that stretched their poor run to just one win in 13.

“It’s another tough one to take,” he said. “We had a big chance after six minutes and if that had gone in I think it would have been a different game.

“Then a lapse of concentration for their first goal and a referee’s decision for the second have proved very costly for us.

“To be honest I don’t know what constitutes a foul now because Jordan (Thompson) has won a header between two Norwich players, who have both gone down, and the referee awards a free-kick.

“We then responded in the right way and I enjoyed watching the way we played in the second half. But we couldn’t take one of our chances to make it more difficult for Norwich and that was disappointing.

“I am pleased with the attitude of the players – no-one took a backward step today. At the moment things aren’t going for us but no-one is feeling sorry for themselves.”