Oxford 0-3 Norwich: Touré hat-trick hauls Canaries seven clear of the drop | OneFootball

A ruthless first senior hat-trick from Mohamed Touré fired Norwich City to a crucial 3-0 victory at struggling Oxford United to go seven points clear of the Championship bottom three.

Canaries striker Mohamed Touré was gifted a dream start in just the first minute as goalkeeper Jamie Cumming missed the ball after coming off his line, before rounding off a great one-touch move with an emphatic finish.

The 21-year-old then leaped onto a poor backpass before slotting in his third moments after the restart to condemn the U’s to a record fifth home game in a row without scoring, with the gap to safety widening to five points.

As it happened

Coming in for the first-team to replace the injured Vladan Kovacevic, who had started all 31 league matches this season, back up goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw went long over the top of the home defense towards Touré.

Oxford’s number one Jamie Cumming dashed off of his line only to take a swing at the ball and miss it, allowing the Australian international to tap his second goal in as many games as a Norwich player into the empty net.

The home side were almost masters of their own downfall again as centre-back Michal Helik gave possession straight to Liam Gibbs with a sloppy pass, who found Oscar Schwartau running in behind and forcing a smart save from Cumming.

Touré smashed home his second from point blank range with 20 minutes gone after QPR loanee Sam Field exchanged a neat one-two with Schwartau before slotting a nice through ball to left-back Ben Chrisene.

Oxford failed to pick up Norwich’s newest recruit standing six yards out, and they were punished for it.

The visitors did have a slight scare as the U’s countered with former Norwich winger Placheta and worked it quickly from right to left, and centre-back Ruari McConville sent the cross straight up.

Grimshaw was unable to secure the loose ball, but Panamanian Jose Cordoba made a vital intervention to poke the ball away from the path of striker Mark Harris.

Matt Bloomfield’s half-time team talk went out of the window minutes into the second half when left winger Aidomo Emakhu – trying to pass it back to Cameron Brannagan – presented Touré with ball instead.

The Socceroos striker ran in behind and dispatched under Cumming and into the bottom left corner, his first career treble killing the game before it had passed the 50 minute mark.

Oxford mustered their first shot on target when Grimshaw saved a tame effort from range after a free kick from Brannagan went straight into the wall, as the visitors were in full command of the encounter.

Norwich largely coasted through the final half an hour, as boos from the home support drowned out the cheers from the away end of the Kassam Stadium at full time – a sign of fans frustration with their team’s increasingly dire situation.

As for their opponents, a dominant display and fifth victory in six matches continued their surge back up the Championship table and put a deserved seven-point buffer between them and the relegation places.

Norwich analysis: No Sargent, no problem

It’s been quite the rollercoaster of emotions for Norwich fans this season, seemingly mired in a hopeless relegation battle with nine points from their opening 15 games under Liam Manning, now in charge of Huddersfield Town.

Star player Josh Sargent’s transfer saga with MLS side Toronto FC has not helped their situation, having texted manager Philippe Clement to remove himself from contention to feature in their FA Cup tie with Walsall in January – resulting in his swift banishment from the first-team.

The US first-team hopeful had long been touted for a move to a Premier League club, with an impressive 51 goals in 123 Championship appearances – an average not far off of a goal every two matches.

While he enjoyed a great start to the season and had four goals in the opening five games of the season, it took him 15 matches to find the net again. With him out of reckoning and Jovon Makama injured, Mohamed Touré didn’t just have big boots to fill, but two pairs of them.

He schooled Oxford’s misfiring attack, with three goals in as many shots from just six touches in the opposition penalty area and nearly every move forward making use of his strong hold-up play.

With Touré now firing off on all cylinders and Makama, formerly of Lincoln City, chipping in with 10 league goals in his first time in the second tier, Clement might not be half as disappointed to lose the American as he would’ve been when he first walked through the door at Carrow Road.

In many ways, his play mirrored that of the now outcast Sargent. For all of the signings who have underwhelmed for Norwich, gotten themselves injured, or both, drawing fierce criticism and even protests from fans of the East Anglian outfit, Touré is quickly shaping up to be one of the signings of the season.

Oxford analysis: struggling attack reaches record low

In Matt Bloomfield’s opening seven games, including tonight’s defeat, they have scored just three goals: two away at Leicester City, and one in their defeat to Sheffield United a few weeks ago.

But that’s not all. With their latest goalless game at the Kassam Stadium, the U’s have now gone four games at home without scoring, which marks a new record in their history as a football league side.

The hosts managed no shots on target in the first half and could only force Dan Grimshaw into a mere moment of panic in the Norwich goal, who was forced into saving a shot on target for the first time over 60 minutes in.

They missed the attacking of presence of Will Lankshear, who with six goals is their top scorer in the Championship this season – his red card against Coventry last time out proving to be quite costly for his team.

Oxford’s struggles in front of goal have cost them valuable points in goalless home draws against Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers, which fans will likely have viewed as missed opportunities more than decent results in spite of solid defensive performances in both matches.

If Bloomfield’s men are to make anything of their remaining matches to try and mount an even greater escape than the Canaries are enjoying, the solution is simple: start scoring, and start scoring at home.