Premier League: Swansea City 2 Norwich City 3

Norwich City held on for a vital 3-2 away win over Swansea City in the Premier League on Saturday, courtesy of a Grant Holt brace.

The first half was initially dominated by the Liberty Stadium visitors, who enjoyed most of the possession but could not create any clear chances.

However, it was Swansea that took the lead in the 22nd minute through Danny Graham’s first goal of the match, after a superb cross from Nathan Dyer.

By contrast, the second half saw a complete turnaround in fortunes, as Norwich scored three times in the opening 17 minutes through Anthony Pilkington and Holt twice, as the shell-shocked Swansea defence could not cope with their waves of attacking play.

Graham’s late penalty ensure for a thrilling finish, and despite coming close on several occasions, the Welsh side slipped to a disappointing defeat to their fellow promoted club.

Norwich built up plenty of time on the ball in the opening 45 minutes, while Swansea were struggling to break down their opponents’ defensive formation. However, both sides struggled to create any clear chances, and neither goalkeeper was forced into a serious save in the opening quarter-hour.

Paul Lambert’s men were really starting to push forward as the half wore on, and they looked the most likely to score.

But, against the run of play, Swansea took the lead in the 22nd minute. After Sigurdsson was instrumental in a well-worked passing move, the ball found its way to Dyer, who played a superb ball through to Graham, who finished well to make it 1-0 to the home side. It was the first genuine chance created by either side, and after dealing with Norwich’s domination of possession, the hosts were fortunate to take the lead.

Graham was looking very dangerous and caused a number of problems for the Norwich defence nearly taking advantage of a poor back-pass from midfielder David Fox.

However, the next genuine chance was fashioned by Norwich, after some good work by Pilkington on the left side, the ball was crossed in and met by a diving header by Andrew Surman, which was saved well by Swansea’s Michel Vorm.

The game was beginning to open up towards the end of the first half, and Swansea could have doubled their advantage in the 39th minute, again through Graham.

A ball from the dangerous Dyer found its way to Scott Sinclair on the left wing. Sinclair sent a superb cross in towards Graham, but the striker could not find a finish thanks to a great piece of defending by Elliott Ward.

After a strong start to the second half, Norwich equalised on 47 minutes. A penalty area scramble saw Russell Martin’s shot go high in the air, and was kept in by Ward. He managed to knock the ball back into the area, and found Holt, whose header tied the scores up at 1-1.

Norwich then stunned the hosts by taking the lead via Pilkington, whose shot from just outside the penalty area took a deflection off Neil Taylor into the net.

The visitors were clearly galvanised, and after a swift counter-attack, the ball found its way to Holt once more, and the front man finished well to give the away side a deserved 3-1 lead, with their three goals scored in the space of 17 second-half minutes.

In a late twist, captain Ashley Williams won Swansea a penalty in the 86th minute after a foul by Holt. Graham stepped up calmly, and put the ball away to reduce the deficit to 3-2 but it would prove to be consolation only.