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BBCSports |
Norwich City (0) 1-3 (1) Fulham
Fulham won at Norwich to maintain their play-off hopes, despite having Chris Martin sent off in the first half.
Stefan Johansen gave the Cottagers the lead when his left-footed shot found the bottom corner from 20 yards out.
Martin was sent off for an elbow on Mitchell Dijks late in the first half as he challenged for a long ball.
Tom Cairney doubled the lead from the penalty spot and Floyd Ayite slotted in to seal the three points after Cameron Jerome's header had given Norwich hope.
Fulham had rarely been tested by the hosts until Jerome's goal, but the Canaries improved in the closing stages, with Marcus Bettinelli twice having to deny Alex Pritchard.
But Ayite rounded keeper John Ruddy and rolled the ball into the net to calm the visitors' nerves, moments after Cairney had prodded tamely at Ruddy when through on goal.
Despite the victory, Fulham stay seventh in the table with only four games to play, two points behind sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday.
The Cottagers also face a more difficult finish to the season, as all four of their remaining fixtures are against teams in the top half of the table.
Norwich's already slim play-off hopes are now all but mathematically ended, as they sit 12 points outside the top six.
Norwich City interim boss Alan Irvine:
"Fulham are a good team and deserved what they got today.
"After going down to 10 men they were extremely well organised and defended really well to get the result they wanted.
"Our players deserved praised for the way they performed last week and I think they deserve some criticism today.
"We prepare them the same way for each match and you are obviously hoping for the same level of performance in each match, the level the players are capable of.
Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic:
"We will certainly appeal [against the sending off]. I had a good view and although Chris touches their player, it was just two players fighting for the ball. There was no intention at all, no aggression.
"I am very proud of the way the players performed today. This is a very tough place to come to - they have a lot of good players and had only lost here three times all season.
"We knew we had to be well organised, we needed to be at our best, and we also had to be very strong mentally, especially after the red card."
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