Norwich City 1 Tottenham 0 match report: Robert Snodgrass strike gives breathing space to under-fire Chris Hughton

Norwich City could hardly have chosen a better day to produce their performance of the season. Less than one week after chief executive David McNally admitted the club were “aware” of alternatives to Chris Hughton, who had overseen just six league wins before Sunday night, Norwich outplayed Tottenham Hotspur, won 1-0 and climbed up to 14th in the Premier League table.

It has been a difficult time at Carrow Road recently, and McNally broke down in tears at the final whistle. Hughton explained afterwards that there had been a recent bereavement in McNally’s family; his father passed away on Friday.

Hughton treated this result with the same dignity and honesty he shows every week, although it would have been impossible for him not to be proud of his hard-working players. He said that, along with a 1-0 win at Stoke City in September, it was the best performance of 2013-14. “It feels like a big win,” Hughton said afterwards, and it certainly did. “In this vital part of the season, where every result seems to be a big result, this relieves some pressure on us.”

Norwich were only slightly better than Spurs in a dismal first half, but they improved as the game went on, Robert Snodgrass scoring the only goal in the second minute of the second half. There was a brief flicker of a Spurs fight-back, but it foundered on the competence of John Ruddy and the incompetence of Roberto Soldado.

Spurs looked lethargic and short of spark from the start. Seven of the starting XI were retained from Thursday’s night defeat on a poor pitch in Dnipropetrovsk, which Tim Sherwood did not use as an excuse.

Tottenham created nothing in the first half, and only slightly more in the second. They are a completely different team from Liverpool, now six points ahead in fourth place. Liverpool have scored 70 league goals this season, Spurs just 36.

It took Tottenham an hour, and the introduction of Soldado, to make any real openings. “It was too late,” Sherwood said, “because we didn’t score. And we needed to score to get back into the game.”

With his first touch, Soldado drove Emmanuel Adebayor’s lay-off into the side netting from a good position. With his second, he headed Aaron Lennon’s cross wide at the far post having jumped in front of Russell Martin. It was another frustrating evening for the £26milllion striker, and Sherwood is hoping that he will improve soon.

“We are waiting for him to take one, and hopefully confidence will start flooding back. Strikers have lulls, and Robbie needs to get out of this one.”

This was a quiet afternoon too for Adebayor, who was twice denied by the excellent Ruddy as he ran through on goal, and as such Spurs were blunt.

Norwich, even after just six goals in their previous 10 league games, were far more dangerous than Tottenham throughout the second half. They took the lead two minutes after the re-start, seizing on an error that was characteristic of Tottenham’s afternoon. Nabil Bentaleb lazily lost the ball to Snodgrass in midfield, and he played it inside to Bradley Johnson. Snodgrass continued his run, Johnson picked him out and he darted in behind Danny Rose and whipped the ball into the far bottom corner.

That goal seemed to lighten a mental burden on the Norwich players, who attacked Spurs through the second half with more confidence than they have mustered all season. Leroy Fer shot wide from distance, Snodgrass curled a free-kick just wide, Johnson had a free-kick bounce off the bar and off the line, Gary Hooper squared to a defender when he might have shot.

But Norwich could have scored more and it would not have been undeserved.

They were the better team, by a lesser margin, of the first half too. Sherwood picked the same front six that tore apart Newcastle 11 days ago, and Spurs had enough of the ball but lacked the brisk confidence needed to get men in behind.

After just 13 minutes, Etienne Capoue was forced off with an injury, and he was replaced by Nacer Chadli. This prompted a reshuffle, which should have made Spurs more dangerous. But in fact it made little impact. Spurs’ best moment of the first half was Lennon darting down to the by-line and floating a gentle cross well over everyone’s heads. “It was a nothing game in the first half,” Sherwood said, quite fairly. “Our performance was not good enough.”

Norwich City certainly had the better of it even before the goal. They did not look especially like scoring in the first half, but they did at least resemble a team with an idea of how to do it, which had not always been the case recently. After a slow start, they twice managed to get left-back Martin Olsson down to the by-line. His first cross drifted off-field but the second cut-back just evaded the Dutch midfielder Leroy Fer at the far post.

Nathan Redmond was next to attack that left side, and his cross was just snatched away from Ricky van Wolfswinkel by Hugo Lloris. The Spurs goalkeeper also needed to palm a Snodgrass free-kick away from Bradley Johnson just before the break, but it was not enough to prepare him for what came later.

Norwich are now closer to where they want to be, but Spurs are further away. “It looks big,” Sherwood said of the six-point gap to Liverpool. “This is a real blow to us.”

Norwich (4-2-3-1) Ruddy 8; Martin 6, Yobo 6, Bassong 7, Olsson 7; Tettey 6, Johnson 7; Snodgrass 7, Fer 6, Redmond 5 (Hoolahan, 86); Van Wolfswinkel 5 (Hooper, 72)

Tottenham (4-1-4-1) Lloris 5; Naughton 4, Dawson 4, Vertonghen 5, Rose 5 (Townsend, 82); Capoue (Chadli, 13, 6); Dembele 4, Paulinho 5 (Soldado, 65, 4), Bentaleb 5, Lennon 5; Adebayor 4

Match rating: 6

Man of the match: Ruddy (Norwich)