European Football: Goss gloss on Norwich glory

Norwich City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Bayern Munich. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

(Norwich win 3-2 on aggregate)

THE CALM of a cathedral city was shattered last night as Norwich received rapturous Carrow Road acclaim after completing the dethronement of the German club who were once masters of the European game. A remarkable Uefa Cup victory, hard-earned but irresistibly deserved, sends Mike Walker's surprise team into the third round, while the shock waves of Bayern's demise will reverberate round the Continent.

Again it was Jeremy Goss, a folk hero on the terraces and known now in the dressing-room as 'God' for a succession of eye-catching and valuable goals this season, who was in the right place when Norfolk was saying a collective prayer for a breakthrough.

Norwich, mere babes at this level, had gone behind after four minutes, the worst of all scenarios, but retained sufficient composure, wit and ability to recover their guard before Goss struck at the start of the second half to put them back in the overall lead.

'I am still pinching myself that all this is happening for me,' said the Welsh international, who began this remarkable fairytale with the sweetest of volleys in the Olympic Stadium two weeks ago and who left the joyous scene of his and his club's greatest achievement proudly wearing the Bayern No 10 shirt of Lothar Matthaus, Germany's World Cup-winning captain.

Goss had scored just five League goals in what in the main had been 10 disappointing and frustrating seasons for him in East Anglia. His fifth of this campaign was not in the spectacular category but oh, was it important. Mark Bowen made another decisive break down the left, the willing Chris Sutton managed to help the ball on at the near post and Goss applied the finish before disappearing in a mass of jubilant yellow and green shirts.

This was every bit Bryan Gunn's success, too - the goalkeeper made two outstanding saves - and so it was for the 11 other heroes and Walker. 'It's the greatest moment of my managerial career,' said the man once sacked by Fourth Division Colchester. 'Bayern are a top- class team but we did our homework for the first leg and now we won't be frightened of anybody.'

A capacity crowd produced an atmosphere at the start that Carrow Road has not witnessed before. Secretly, the patrons feared a Bayern backlash and within minutes it had materialised. The normally meticulous defensive pillars were still taking up position as the visitors played a short corner and, although Rob Newman was first to meet it, his attempted headed clearance struck John Polston on the back and fell conveniently for the Colombian striker Adolfo Valencia.

They still held the aggregate advantage but not surprisingly the Canaries, momentarily, were traumatised as they saw all their hard work possibly going to waste. It was to their credit that they themselves were able immediately to counter- attack, Sutton powering in a shot after 10 minutes that screwed just wide.

As Munich poured forward, the hosts were reliant on Gunn for preserving their advantage in the tie.

Norwich City (1-3-4-2): Gunn; Culverhouse; Polston, Butterworth, Newman; Fox (Sutch, 89), Crook, Goss, Bowen; Eadie (Akinbiyi, 77) Sutton.

Bayern Munich (1-2-5-2): Aumann; Matthaus; Kreuzer, Helmer; Schupp, Jorginho, Wouters (Sternkopf, 77), Nerlinger, Ziege; Valencia, Witeczek (Scholl, 66).

Referee: F Van den Wijngaert (Bel).