
Sam Gallagher celebrates his goal for Stoke at Norwich
Sam Gallagher scored his first Stoke goal in 10 months as the Potters beat Norwich at Carrow Road to continue their Championship promotion push.
Gallagher replaced Divin Mubama at half-time and Mark Robins' tactical change paid off as he tapped home on 75 minutes.
Sorba Thomas added a second eight minutes from time to give Stoke only their fifth win at Carrow Road and Robins' first over the Canaries in his 13th attempt as a manager.
The win continues Stoke's resurgence after their New Year's Day victory at Hull, while Norwich remain rooted in the bottom three.
Stoke are revived and, after losing seven of their final 10 games of 2025, they have won their first two games of the new year away from home without conceding.
The Potters have a long injury list and Ben Gibson was added to it before kick-off to rob them off their last left-back.
They had the better of the opening exchanges and Mubama saw a shot deflected over, while Lamine Cisse had an effort saved by Norwich goalkeeper Vladan Kovacevic before he fired a shot over.
Norwich knew a point would take them out of the bottom three for the first time this season and Jovon Makama had a header saved by Tommy Simkin after Kellen Fisher and Matej Jurasek went close.
Stoke grew stronger as the game wore on and Cisse, Thomas and Bosun Lawal all had efforts before Gallagher made the breakthrough.
Thomas produced good work on the left and Gallagher lost Makama in the six-yard box to tap home his low cross.
Norwich were beaten and the excellent Thomas rubber-stamped the win when the Potters' top scorer met Million Manhoef's cross first time to fire home his ninth goal of the season.
'Stoke deserved this win' - reaction
Norwich boss Philippe Clement told BBC Radio Norfolk:
"I had the feeling at half-time that we could grab the game and make the difference in the second half, and give an extra push with our team.
"But we didn't realise that on the pitch and also the changes we made, we didn't raise our level. I think on Stoke's side, they raised their level with the changes they made, so in the second half, they were better and deserved this win.
"I know the reality. I know we're not where we want to be, so we know there's still a lot of work to be done with making players here better and making them more fit, and also getting in new players to raise the level."
Clement: 'They deserved this win'
'We demonstrated incredible courage' - reaction
Stoke manager Mark Robins told BBC Radio Stoke:
"We've got a squad of 20 outfield players and seven of them are out, so we've got a fairly unhealthy sick list at the minute and that's really difficult.
"On the back of the four games, we've got players who are playing a lot of minutes, yet they demonstrated incredible courage to get on the ball. They showed incredible work, a great work ethic and there were some incredible bits of quality in there as well.
"The two goals were the epitome of that quality and they stood out head and shoulders above anything else that happened in the game.
"It probably wasn't brilliant to watch for lots of the game, but those bits of quality were worth the admission fee, I would imagine."
Robins: "Good value for the win"
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