Norwich head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup revealed his captain Shane Duffy had been dropped for disciplinary reasons after watching his side held to a 1-1 Championship draw with Oxford at Carrow Road.
The Republic of Ireland defender, who had been an ever present in the English second tier this season, was dropped to the bench after turning up late for a pre-match meeting earlier in the day.
“Shane was late – and the culture of this football club is clear. There are some simple rules and if a player makes a mistake there will be consequences,” said Thorup.
“He didn’t do it on purpose and without going into too much detail, he was a bit unlucky with what happened. But it was an easy decision for me to make. These sort of things can happen, but they should not happen.”
As for the game, he added: “I am annoyed and disappointed that a performance like that didn’t give us three points.
“In games like that, nine times out of 10 you will win it. I was pleased with a lot of what we did but the end product was not good enough.”
Norwich took the lead after just five minutes as they sliced through the Oxford defence with some slick football down the right.
Callum Doyle produced a peach of a pass to pick out the overlapping Kellen Fisher and the youngster’s low cross was judged perfectly for Josh Sargent to apply the finishing touch from close range for his 12th goal of the season.
Oxford levelled after 18 minutes when a Will Vaulks long throw took a couple of deflections before falling for Mark Harris, who coolly converted from close range.
From then on it was all Norwich, but the visitors defended stoutly to come away with a hard-earned draw that lifted them eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Oxford boss Gary Rowett was pleased with the point, even though it extended his side’s winless run to eight matches.
“I thought the lads showed real character tonight,” he said. “After conceding a goal so early, it would have been easy for the heads to drop and concede two or three more.
“This is a difficult place to come to and they have a lot of good players but we worked really hard to nullify them.
“I think we deserved a point for the effort we put in and to be fair, although they had a lot of the ball, they didn’t have too many clear-cut chances.
“It’s tough for a club coming up from League One and it’s easy to go on a run of defeats. If a team like Middlesbrough can go on a run of five-successive defeats, it can happen to us too.
“To get a draw like this gives us an extra lift and hopefully can help us in our aim of moving up the table.”
Let's start our Daily Laugh today. Every season Arsenal must sign at least one Chelsea player Arsenal Striker now Raya.... Latin/South American Teams are UNBEATEN After the First Round of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup! Lamine Yamal is spending his S̶c̶h̶o̶o̶l̶ Holidays with 30-year-old Spanish influencer Fati Vazquez… Relegation Zone Club – Manchester United will face THREE o...
Marcus Rashford wants to miss Manchester United's summer tour of America in favour of finding himself a new club.Ruben Amorim's squad are due to travel America next month to ramp up their pre-season preparations. But Rashford is desperate to avoid going if he has not secured an exit from Old Trafford, and will tell club bosses he wants to remain in England to resolve his future.It's understood Amo...
Liverpool are reportedly set to table a 'significant' offer for Crystal Palace star Marc Guehi. The defender has just one year left on his contract at Selhurst Park and is therefore expected to be on the move this summer.Guehi has been heavily linked with a move away from the Eagles over the past few seasons, with Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham all showing an interest in acquiring the services o...
Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min could soon be exiting the north London club.Once part of a formidable partnership with Harry Kane, there is no question the South Korea international's powers appeared to have waned last season.Thankfully, after an almost 10-year association with Tottenham, Son finally marked his time at the club with a trophy last season, lifting the Europa League under dep...
Maresca reveals if Chelsea will sign a replacement for MudrykChelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed whether the Blues will sign a replacement for Mykhailo Mudryk after the winger's doping charges."We had already one entire season almost without Misha last season. We tried to find different solutions with some of the academy players like Tyrique [George]."But we're going to decide to go for a winge...
Liverpool join race to sign Crystal Palace star Marc GuehiLiverpool have reportedly joined the race to sign Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi as they seek to bolster their back line this summer.The 24-year-old is widely expected to leave the FA Cup holders this summer with his contract set to expire at the end of next season.According to the Daily Mail, Liverpool are now looking to sign a new cent...
Arsenal to pay ABOVE Martin Zubimendi release clauseArsenal will have to pay above the €60m release clause in Martin Zubimendi's Real Sociedad contract to get the deal done this summer.The 26-year-old has been in talks with Arsenal over a move from Spain to North London for the past six months and it’s now reaching Its climax.Personal terms were agreed some time ago but the clubs have ...
Lionel Messi celebrates his free kickLionel Messi’s 50th Inter Miami goal in only his 61st appearance for the club sealed a 2-1 comeback win over FC Porto in their FIFA Club World Cup Group A clash, securing a first-ever victory in the competition.Both sides contested goalless draws in their respective opening matches, but the deadlock was broken after only eight minutes in Atlanta through a...
Man City handed Premier League fine ahead of 115 charges verdictMan City have been slapped with a 3800k fine by the Premier League for repeated late kick-offs as they await the verdict for their alleged 115 charges.Pep Guardiola’s side have been fined approximately 3800,000 after admitting to nine breaches of Premier League Rule L.33, which governs punctuality for kick-offs and second-half r...
Man United set to miss out on goalkeeper target after Napoli talksMan United look set to miss out on one of their reported goalkeeping targets with Vanja Milinkovic-Savic in talks with Serie A champions Napoli.United had been heavily linked with the 28-year-old with current number one Andre Onana failing to convince since his move back in 2023.According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Milinkovic...
- 1 DONE DEAL: Marseille confirm CJ Egan-Riley signing from Burnley
- 2 Chloe Kelly enjoys sun-kissed holiday as Arsenal star rests before Euro 2025
- 3 Jack Grealish set to leave Man City this summer
- 4 Man Utd have Hugo Ekitike 'advantage'
- 5 Transfer news & rumours LIVE
- 6 Stunning Euro U21 reporter dubbed 'queen of Europe' in bold dress
- 7 Man Utd make decision on replacing Andre Onana with Emi Martinez this summer
- 8 DONE DEAL: Celta Vigo sign permanently Ilaix from RB Leipzig
- 9 Real Madrid eye a trio of targets
- 10 Maddison and Wag announce they're expecting twins AGAIN