How 'crazy' floodlight drama at Carrow Road inspired Derby’s injury-time comeback

It was exactly as Teemu Pukki’s 81st-minute strike slipped into the net, to make it 3-2, that things ironically started to go wrong for Norwich. Pictures from photographers sat behind the goal showed it was the precise moment a fuse failed in the floodlight to the right of the Geoffrey Watling City Stand. The Canaries had just taken a late lead – which has become a staple part of fixtures at Carrow Road this season – but in doing so symbolically sparked the end of their luck.

The drama was almost cinematic how it unfolded, as if Frank Lampard’s prayers for a Basketball-esque time-out to regroup had been suddenly answered. After a short discussion with ground staff, referee David Webb called the players off while the power was reset.

In doing so, it also reset the temperature of the game; a chance for Derby to take advantage of, which they did. Their two swift goals in the final five minutes turned the result on its head, sending Lampard’s staff into a wild frenzy of celebrations on the touchline.

“It’s the maddest game I’ve ever played in and I think I ever will,” admitted a jubilant Mason Mount. “It’s football, so it can happen, but it was crazy.”

Mount’s goal just prior to half time had levelled the score at 2-2 – completing the first of two Derby comebacks. The 19-year-old midfielder explained that the game’s strange stoppage in play came at the perfect time, killing the Norwich momentum in its tracks.

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“When something like that happens, it affects the winning team more. We had time to regroup. We had time to speak in the changing room. When we came back out, all we had on our minds was attack.”

This was elaborated further by Lampard, who was wearing a mixed look of both exhaustion and elation as he sat down to answer questions from the press. The Derby manager laughed that he’d spoken to the referee about getting the game replayed, and “thank goodness” it wasn’t. He agreed how apt the timing of the 25-minute break was, allowing him to give a quick pep talk that galvanised the players going back into battle.

“I told them they deserve a result,” he said. “They deserved some form of result, whether that be a draw or a win, for the effort they put in. Having come from a difficult game a few days ago and gone two-nil down, that’s character. I just told them that, and the rest is theirs.”

The strange stoppage was also vital for Derby as backroom staff had the chance to assess Andre Wisdom’s injury, which eventuated in Lampard switching to a back three and bringing on David Nugent. The striker’s presence up front was indeed crucial in the final minutes, supplying the pass that lead to Derby’s third goal.

“At the start of the game, going 2-0 down after 30 minutes, you are thinking this could be four or five,” said Mount, touching on the game’s ambiguity. “If someone had said we were going to score four and win, you wouldn’t have believed them.

“This result is massive within the league and our position. To go to Norwich and win is massive for the boys and our squad. We want to get first or second. That’s our goal. If we continue playing the way we’re playing, I think we can do it.”

The absurdity of the action, and the result, left most of football Carrow Road still reeling in the minutes after the final whistle. Probably because a late comeback is the script Norwich have followed so closely in recent home games – they scored twice in stoppage time to draw 3-3 with Nottingham Forrest on Boxing Day.

But even though Daniel Farke’s men hit the bar in the final moments, all the belief seemed to be with the visitors, who will be looking back graciously on the bizarre fault. Lampard might even send a late Christmas card to Norwich’s energy suppliers, who may have indirectly put them on a path to victory.

Not many teams can say their own floodlights caused them defeat, although that’s an argument Norwich fans will want to leave in the dark.