Brennan blast keeps Norwich roaring away

Coventry City 0 Norwich City

The growing conviction around Norwich that Premiership football is returning to Carrow Road will only be reinforced after Nigel Worthington's team chalked up their eighth win in 11 matches to consolidate their grip on top place in the First Division.

Despite spending much of yesterday's visit to Highfield Road on the back foot in the face of a lively performance from Eric Black's Coventry, they still had enough resources to stretch their unbeaten run away from home to eight games and record their first win on Coventry turf for 23 years.

It was tough on Coventry, who battered away tirelessly without being able to find a weakness in goalkeeper Robert Green and probably deserved better than to suffer their fourth home defeat. If the mark of a winning side is the ability to spin a victory from a threadbare performance, however, then Norwich are on the up.

Threadbare is an unfair adjective. Defensively, Norwich were admirable, in particular their centre-backs, Malky Mackay and Craig Fleming, and the boardroom decision to meet Darren Huckerby's wage demands paid another dividend, the goalscorer turning provider to play a key role in Gary Holt's first-half opener, then setting up Jim Brennan's clincher five minutes from time.

The well-travelled former Manchester City forward, who was a Coventry favourite for three years, tended to operate mainly in a wide role on the left and it was from there that he crossed deep towards Damien Francis as Norwich went ahead after 37 minutes. The Norwich midfielder was off target with his own attempt but as the ball bounced loose in front of Coventry's goal, Holt was perfectly placed to turn the ball home from a couple of yards.

The visitors needed to withstand a good deal of pressure from the home side, however, and it took two important saves from Green, from Eric Deloumeaux and Patrick Suffo, to keep Coventry off the score sheet. Suffo, whose muscle and pace regularly worried the visiting defence, forced his way into shooting range twice early in the second half, although he was wide of the target with both attempts. He almost netted a consolation header in the closing seconds.

Coventry's defence found themselves under pressure only occasionally and were scarcely inconvenienced by the loss of Steve Staunton, who was replaced by Mo Konjic at half-time. Matthias Svensson replaced Iwan Roberts for the last quarter but saw few opportunities to influence play as Coventry continued to dominate possession. Norwich's 3,500 travelling fans, who had out shouted the 12,000 home supporters in the first half, were considerably quieter now, sensing that their side was hanging on.

Hard though they tried Coventry could not break down Norwich's defence and instead conceded a second goal. Huckerby again set up the opportunity, finished stylishly by Brennan who lashed a 20-yard screamer into the roof of Scott Shearer's net.

"It was a win built on hard work, which is why we are top of the table," Worthington said. "There is no secret. Our resilience was first class today but we'll need to continue to work hard over the remaining 15 games if we are to achieve our target and go up."