Perseverance paid off for Norwich – Neil

Norwich City were rewarded for their perseverance in the 1-0 win over West Brom in the Premier League on Saturday, according to boss Alex Neil.

Robbie Brady scored the decisive goal at The Hawthorns with the only shot on target in a drab encounter.

Following last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Manchester City, the victory lifted Norwich up to 17th in the table, three points above the drop zone.

Brady’s strike came from a fortuitous break of the ball after a mis-kick by Matt Jarvis, and Neil was pleased his side received some good fortune.

“I felt our performances of late have merited more than what we got. We got a good draw against Man City and we followed it up with a win today, so I’m pleased with the players,” Neil told Sky Sports.

“I thought we looked more threatening. We had more final-third entries, got a few crosses into the box and we got a break that fell our way.

“But there’s been a few that haven’t gone our way this season, so you keep persevering, keep trying to play well, do the right things and you get your breaks.

“It was really important [to get a second successive clean sheet]. There’s not been a huge amount wrong, we just need to make little tweaks here and there, but the players have been improving in recent weeks.

“In terms of pressure, I think it’s pressure you put on yourself because you want to win and you don’t want to be at the bottom end of the table

“We targeted these five games that are coming up and today was the first and we managed to get a victory, so we need to take that into the games coming up.”

Norwich’s fellow relegation candidates Newcastle United and Sunderland meet on Sunday, and although he will watch the game, Neil is only focused on how his team perform.

“I’ll probably watch the game but to be honest it’s about us,” he added.

“We’ve got it in our hands and both teams have to come to our place and we need to win those games, so we’ve got a job to do and we need to do it next time.”