Middlesbrough 4-0 Norwich City

Patrick Bamford is on loan at Middlesbrough from Chelsea

Middlesbrough climbed into the Championship's top two by thrashing fellow promotion hopefuls Norwich.

Patrick Bamford gave Boro an early lead with a stooping header from Albert Adomah's cross.

Grant Leadbitter then scored twice, either side of the break, the first from a penalty and the second from a header following Lee Tomlin's pass.

And Yanic Wildschut netted their fourth, flicking home after John Ruddy fumbled a Leadbitter corner.

Victory took Boro above previous leaders Watford, with Bournemouth now top following their 2-0 success at Sheffield Wednesday.

Norwich, who could have gone top had results gone their way, are seventh and have won one game in their past seven.

Aitor Karanka's side, in contrast, have now only lost once in their past 11 Championship matches.

And the hosts took just five minutes to take the lead as Bamford, on loan from Chelsea, scored his fourth goal of the season.

Five of Grant Leadbitter's nine goals this season have been penalties

There was not much between the teams in the first half, with ex-Boro captain Gary O'Neil forcing a save from Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, and Cameron Jerome and Kyle Lafferty missing the target for the visitors.

Boro got their second when Russell Martin fouled George Friend, and Leadbitter scored his fifth penalty of the season.

Canaries striker Gary Hooper, who cost the club about £5m last year, came on at half-time for only his fourth appearance of the season, but things got even worse for his side.

Leadbitter made it 3-0 with a looping header from Tomlin's ball over the top and Wildschut added the fourth with his second goal since his summer move from Den Haag.

Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka:

"We have very good players and a very good squad. We are in a very good way but these kind of games cannot confuse us into thinking everything is done.

"I am very happy and very pleased but we want to keep our feet on the ground. We would like to be in this position in May."

"I am very pleased with the result and the performance, especially in the second half. That means we have now beaten the three sides who were relegated, which is good and important for us."

Norwich boss Neil Adams:

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Adams on Boro v Norwich

"I am disappointed. We got what we deserved. It was not good enough at all and was surprising.

"We thought we could cause Middlesbrough problems. We started OK but the manner of the goals we conceded were not good enough.

"This is the most disappointed I have been. It's the worst performance I have seen. It's a heavy defeat and there are not positives."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Middlesbrough

• 13Konstantopoulos
• 5Fredericks
• 4Ayala
• 6Gibson
• 3Friend
• 7LeadbitterBooked at 43mins
• 8ClaytonBooked at 61mins
• 27AdomahSubstituted forReachat 49'minutes
• 10Tomlin
• 23BamfordSubstituted forVossenat 75'minutes
• 9KikeSubstituted forWildschutat 68'minutes

Substitutes

• 18Whitehead
• 20Reach
• 21Vossen
• 22Omeruo
• 24Nsue
• 33Wildschut
• 40Mejias

Norwich

• 1Ruddy
• 2Whittaker
• 5MartinBooked at 88mins
• 6Turner
• 23Olsson
• 28O'Neil
• 27TetteySubstituted forHooperat 45'minutes
• 22Redmond
• 8Howson
• 9LaffertySubstituted forMurphyat 57'minutesBooked at 90mins
• 10JeromeBooked at 72minsSubstituted forGrabbanat 78'minutes

Substitutes

• 3Cuéllar
• 4Johnson
• 7Grabban
• 11Hooper
• 15Miquel
• 21Murphy
• 26Rudd

Referee:

Nigel Miller

Attendance:

16,468

Match Stats

Home TeamMiddlesbroughAway TeamNorwich

Possession

Home45%

Away55%

Shots

Home15

Away9

Shots on Target

Home6

Away1

Corners

Home12

Away2

Fouls

Home9

Away13

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Middlesbrough 4, Norwich City 0.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+4'

Second Half ends, Middlesbrough 4, Norwich City 0.

Posted at 90'+2'

Foul by Gary O'Neil (Norwich City).

Posted at 90'+2'

Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 90'+2'

Attempt missed. Lee Tomlin (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Grant Leadbitter with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 90'+1'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Michael Turner.

Booking

Posted at 90'+1'

Josh Murphy (Norwich City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 90'

Foul by Josh Murphy (Norwich City).

Posted at 90'

Ryan Fredericks (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 89'

Gary O'Neil (Norwich City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 89'

Foul by Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough).

Booking

Posted at 88'

Russell Martin (Norwich City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 88'

Foul by Russell Martin (Norwich City).

Posted at 88'

Jelle Vossen (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Goal!

Posted at 85'

Goal! Middlesbrough 4, Norwich City 0. Yanic Wildschut (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal following a corner.

Posted at 84'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Russell Martin.

Posted at 83'

Foul by Gary Hooper (Norwich City).

Posted at 83'

Dimitrios Konstantopoulos (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 82'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Michael Turner.

Posted at 81'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Martin Olsson.

Substitution

Posted at 78'

Substitution, Norwich City. Lewis Grabban replaces Cameron Jerome.

Substitution

Posted at 75'

Substitution, Middlesbrough. Jelle Vossen replaces Patrick Bamford.

Posted at 74'

Attempt missed. Josh Murphy (Norwich City) right footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Nathan Redmond.

Booking

Posted at 72'

Cameron Jerome (Norwich City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 72'

Foul by Cameron Jerome (Norwich City).

Posted at 72'

George Friend (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Goal!

Posted at 69'

Goal! Middlesbrough 3, Norwich City 0. Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Lee Tomlin.

Substitution

Posted at 68'

Substitution, Middlesbrough. Yanic Wildschut replaces Kike.

Posted at 66'

Attempt missed. Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Grant Leadbitter with a cross following a corner.

Posted at 65'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Michael Turner.

Posted at 65'

Attempt blocked. Kike (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Patrick Bamford.

Posted at 64'

John Ruddy (Norwich City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 64'

Foul by Daniel Ayala (Middlesbrough).

Posted at 64'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by Michael Turner.

Posted at 62'

Offside, Norwich City. Gary O'Neil tries a through ball, but Michael Turner is caught offside.

Booking

Posted at 61'

Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 61'

Steven Whittaker (Norwich City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 61'

Foul by Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough).

Posted at 60'

Corner, Middlesbrough. Conceded by John Ruddy.

Posted at 60'

Attempt saved. Ryan Fredericks (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.

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