Norwich bring Keegan back to earth with a bump

Norwich City 2 Manchester City

No one has ever made such a quick impact on English football as Marc Libbra. In the 74th minute yesterday the Frenchman, a free transfer from Toulouse in the summer, stepped on to the Carrow Road pitch for his first taste of the Nationwide League.

Eleven seconds later he was running back to the centre circle, arms aloft, with a mob of his new Norwich team-mates in hot pursuit. A perfect turn and shot by Libbra had put the Canaries ahead of Manchester City and sent the shy midfielder into the game's folklore.

It also sent Manchester City's confidence spiralling towards earth and abruptly ended Kevin Keegan's honeymoon as manager. By the end, after Paul McVeigh had added the second, even Keegan, never one to criticise his players, conceded: "We got exactly what we deserved today. The best team clearly won.''

The Norwich faithful would be the first to agree as their side bounced back from a humiliating 4-0 opening-day defeat at Millwall, while the talk of a quick return to the promised land which followed City's 3-0 victory over Watford will have quietened in Manchester.

For the Moss Side messiah it is just another test of his faith in everything positive, especially seeing as his most accomplished craftsman, Eyal Berkovic, looks like being out for a month after pulling up with a hamstring injury.

Berkovic will not be alone in the treatment room after a kicking match. Stuart Pearce, Keegan's trusty henchman, set the tone when he resorted to the agricultural to halt the run of the impressive Zema Abbey in the 10th minute and earned himself a glimpse of the familiar yellow card. It was to turn into a busy afternoon for the stretcher brigade. First the Norwich wing-back Chris Llewellyn was carried off after damaging his right foot when bringing down Paulo Wanchope in the eleventh minute. No sooner had they dropped him off at the medical room than they were back to collect the prostrate body of Berkovic in the 19th minute. Two minutes later and they were almost back on again when Richard Dunne clattered into the goalkeeper Carlo Nash in the midst of a Norwich onslaught. Nash, selected ahead of Nicky Weaver, was not keen to give up his berth but the hip injury forced him to concede jersey to Weaver after 29 minutes.

It was easy to forget that there was a game of football taking place. Iwan Roberts, the lanky Welsh striker, was unlucky not to open the scoring when put through in the 15th minute, Nash making a fine save to his left.

It was much the same story in the second half. The medics completed their hat-trick by carrying off Jeff Whitley in the 69th minute after a lunge from Norwich's Darel Russell. City were no angels and both Steve Howey and Pearce were fortunate not to see red.

There were few quiet moments for the City defence and when the goal came the only surprise was the scorer. A ball flicked through by Abbey found Libbra in space on the edge of the area. The Frenchman's turn left the cumbersome Howey and his right-foot shot beat Weaver at his near post. It was left to McVeigh to score late and Wanchope completed a miserable afternoon for Keegan with a late red card for two bookable offences.

"I am not low, just remember that I am the eternal optimist,'' said Keegan. Kevin, how could we ever forget?

Norwich City 2 Manchester City 0

Libbra 75, McVeigh 90

Half-time: 0-0 Attendance: 18,745