Dean Smith makes ‘dominated’ claim following penalty shoot-out victory over Birmingham City

Norwich City manager Dean Smith says the penalty shoot-out win over Birmingham City was the least that his side deserved after dominating the first 45 minutes.

The Canaries took a 2-0 lead with both goals coming in stoppage time at the end of the first-half before Blues levelled things up in the second through goals from Jonathan Leko and an own-goal from Jonathan Tomkinson.

It was a spirited display from a young Birmingham team who showed great character to claw the game back but despite a drop-off in performance from the hosts after the break, Smith claims it was a well deserved win.

“It wasn’t the most straightforward win, but I was pleased with the performance in general,” he told Norwich’s official website.

“I thought first half we dominated the game and got to 2-0 up, probably could have taken more of our chances, again we’re taking about final ball but I thought we dominated the first-half and could have scored more.

“The second half was more stop-start; we lacked a little more fluidity,” he added.

“That probably had to do with the number of subs that both teams were making, with games coming up in mind.

“It was the result we deserved because we should never have been taken to penalties. We made a mistake which led to a goal and unfortunately our mistakes are costing us at the minute.”