Liam Manning apologises to Norwich fans after quick exit in defeat to Hull

Norwich head coach Liam Manning apologised to the fans after a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Hull condemned his side to a seventh straight home defeat of the season at Carrow Road.

The Canaries faded after a bright start and second-half goals from Joe Gelhardt (49) and Darko Gyabi (87) left them still mired in the Championship relegation zone after 13 games.

There were protests from the home fans at the final whistle, with Manning the main target along with sporting director Ben Knapper, prompting the former to make a swift exit to the sanctuary of the dressing room – and he admitted he should faced the music afterwards.

“That was poor of me and I apologise for that,” he said. “Sometimes the disappointment gets the better of you – and I didn’t want to go out there and antagonise people – but I was wrong not to go on the pitch.”

As for the match he added: “It was the same as a number of games recently. We started brightly, with purpose and created a lot of chances – but we didn’t take them.

“In the second half we knew they would change things – they had to the way the game was going – but we don’t deal with it and they score one of the softest goals I have seen at this level.

“Then we are under pressure – and we aren’t coping very well under pressure at the moment. When you are on the ropes you have to scrap and fight.

“To have so many excellent moments in the first half and so many terrible moments in the second really is tough to take.

“Of course I am hurting, it’s not nice and I don’t like it. I know it’s unacceptable to lose the number of games we have.

“I can look at myself and say I am giving everything to turn it around but I know something has to change and there will be discussion about it”.

Norwich were left to rue their lack of a finishing touch,  Josh Sargent setting the tone by firing wide from close range after just five minutes, while Jeffery Schlupp clipped the crossbar and Oscar Schwartau missed the target from a good position.

The hosts were made to pay just four minutes into the second half when Hull showed them how it was done by taking their first clear-cut opportunity.

A header forward from Matt Crooks caught out the home defence and  Gelhardt outmuscled Harry Darling before slipping home his sixth goal of the season.

The points were secured when substitute Gyabi prodded home Cody Drameh’s cross at the second attempt to register his first goal for the Tigers.

Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic admitted his side had needed to ride their luck to come away with three points.

“In the first half we just survived,” he admitted. “They were much better than us and we couldn’t really do much in and out of possession.

“They had a lot of chances and we were fortunate that they didn’t take any of them.

“I knew we could not play again like that so we changed things at half-time and that gave us a lot more stability in terms of our shape.

“Then we get a goal and that gives us the confidence to go on and win the game.

“It was a great team effort in the end. We were not good in the first half but the players stuck together and showed  a lot of character and fight to get a huge victory, a huge three points.”