Players are often told by pundits and fans alike that they have to put their bodies on the line when in a relegation scrap, and it’s something Norwich City midfielder Robbie Brady has taken quite literally in recent weeks, reports the Eastern Daily Press.
From losing teeth from a teammates forehead, calf injuries and falling 5 feet landing on his neck, no one can accuse the Irish international of not being fully committed to the cause. Thankfully, for once, Brady survived an entire 90 minutes without injury.
Brady said:
I’ve had a bad few weeks with injuries. Different sorts of knocks but nothing major this time, so I was just happy to get through it unscathed and hopefully there won’t be any more in the coming weeks.
He also played a crucial part in Martin Olsson’s last gasp winner, even if his attempted bicycle kick didn’t quite go to plan.
I just tried to keep it alive – well, I tried to score. But the touch kept it alive and Jonny Howson was there to pick up second balls like he always does. And then Martin produced an excellent finish.
There’s no better way to win a game than like that – but you can do without the ups and downs. It’s good for us as a squad and it gives us an extra boost to win a game like that, rather than a straight-forward win and I think it shows good character.
Meanwhile City’s stand-in skipper Gary O’Neil, who provided the brilliant cross for Olsson’s goal, admitted it wasn’t a smooth a ride as he had hoped getting the vital three points.
Being 1-0 down they had nothing to lose and again at 2-1 down, they threw caution to the wind. People say don’t sit back, but when they end up with four up front, you can’t not sit back because you can’t just go up and leave them. So it becomes difficult and gets nervy.
But the lads were great. We’re disappointed we’ve lost our clean sheet run we had going because we were pleased with getting two of those on the trot. But once they brought on Mitrovic they had that threat in the air and the lads showed fantastic guts and that little bit of quality as well a couple of times at the end, to make sure we won.
