Football: Dozzell rediscovers the Suffolk punch: Norwich City suffer championship knock-out blow at hands of derby rivals as their Youth Cup aspirants fall short at Elland Road

Ipswich Town. . .3

Norwich City. . .1

TO footballing logic and common sense can be added simple mathematics. Norwich will not now win the Premier League and defeat at Portman Road last night means Suffolk will claim they are not even the best in East Anglia. Two Jason Dozzell goals presented Ipswich with the double over their neighbours and arrested a slide which had seen them go 13 games without victory.

Of course the wise men knew all along it could never be Norwich's title. The earth is not flat and they concede a few too many goals to merit serious consideration at the top. This threesome made it 13 they had let in in their last four games and their 62 goals against total is exceeded only by Oldham and Middlesbrough.

Having dragged themselves back to level terms, Norwich went behind again nine minutes into the second half with a goal that said everything about their inability to give Bryan Gunn proper protection between the posts.

After Steve Whitton had played the ball on, the visitors had four or five opportunities to clear. All were spurned in a confusion of swinging legs and unhelpful bounces. Finally Mick Stockwell, barely able to believe that the opportunity was still alive, steadied himself for a goalscoring prod beneath the advancing Gunn.

Not that the goalkeeper could complain on this particular occasion about the lapses in front of him. After 20 minutes he had made a complete hash of an attempted clearance to give Ipswich their opener.

Geraint Williams worked the ball across the area, where Dozzell was a lurking menace, though Gunn had time to collect with both hands. Perversely, he attempted to fly-kick the ball away, missed completely and left an open net for Dozzell.

'It was a diabolical goal to concede and having managed to overcome that we then threw in another at the start of the second half,' moaned the Norwich manager, Mike Walker. 'Sometimes I would like to see us kick the ball over the stand. Bad defending has cost us again.'

It was Dozzell's first in the League since October and his team's dramatic fall from a position where they themselves were challenging for the title persuaded his team manager, Mick McGiven, to play him in attack at the expense of Boncho Genchev. The switch paid dividends again in the 57th minute for Ipswich's third as the Norwich defence retreated ever deeper, allowing Dozzell to arrow a low drive inside Gunn's right post.

It was a good goal after two scruffy ones but Ipswich would not care one iota about that. Victory on their own patch nicely complemented the one they enjoyed before Christmas at Carrow Road.

Since February, however, they had slipped from fourth to 17th, their worst run of results for 30 years but all that was quickly forgotten, their night of local superiority marred only by Chris Sutton's 41st-minute header from Ian Crook's free-kick. It kept Norwich level until half-time though it needed the eagle eye of a linesman to preserve equality, Ipswich claiming that John Polston's nudge on Chris Kiwomya was inside the area, though television replays showed the official got it exactly right.

With two games remaining, Norwich cannot afford to relax with a European qualification theirs if they remain third and Arsenal secure an FA Cup double over Sheffield Wednesday. Ipswich, on the other hand, are effectively safe from lingering relegation concerns.

Ipswich Town: Baker; Youds, Johnson, Williams, Wark, Linighan, Whitton, Stockwell, Milton, Dozzell, Kiwomya. Substitutes not used: Genchev, Whelan, Petterson (gk).

Norwich City: Gunn; Culverhouse, Bowen, Butterworth, Polston, Goss, Crook, Sutton, Robins, Fox, Phillips. Substitutes not used: Ekoku, Woodthorpe, Walton (gk).

Referee: V Callow (Solihull).

----------------------------------------------------------------- FA PREMIER LEAGUE ----------------------------------------------------------------- P W D L F A Pts Manchester Utd. . 39 21 12 6 60 29 75 Aston Villa . . . 39 21 11 7 56 34 74 Norwich . . . . . 40 20 8 12 57 62 68 Blackburn . . . . 38 17 11 10 61 42 62 QPR . . . . . . . 38 15 10 13 57 52 55 Tottenham . . . . 37 15 10 12 53 53 55 Sheffield Wed . . 36 14 12 10 49 42 54 Liverpool . . . . 38 14 11 13 52 49 53 Chelsea . . . . . 40 13 14 13 47 49 53 Manchester City . 38 14 10 14 52 45 52 Wimbledon . . . . 39 14 10 15 53 51 52 Coventry. . . . . 40 13 12 15 48 52 51 Arsenal . . . . . 36 14 8 14 35 33 50 Southampton . . . 40 13 11 16 51 56 50 Everton . . . . . 39 14 7 18 48 51 49 Ipswich . . . . . 40 11 16 13 47 51 49 Leeds . . . . . . 38 12 12 14 52 55 48 Crystal Palace. . 38 10 15 13 45 55 45 Sheffield Utd . . 38 11 9 18 45 50 42 Oldham. . . . . . 39 10 10 19 55 69 40 Nottm Forest. . . 39 10 9 20 39 57 39 Middlesbrough . . 39 9 10 20 45 70 37 -----------------------------------------------------------------

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