Ante Crnac scores as Norwich beat Cardiff to reach third round of Carabao Cup

Croatian forward Ante Crnac wasted no time in making an impression in his first game in 10 months as he fired in the vital second goal that sent Norwich into the third round of the Carabao Cup for the first time in three years with a 2-1 win at Cardiff.

Mathias Kvistgaarden had headed the Canaries into the lead in the 25th minute before Crnac came off the bench on the hour mark and tucked away Jack Stacey’s pass across the box with 12 minutes remaining to prove his knee ligament problems are now behind him.

Cardiff eventually got on the scoresheet in the third added minute when Yousef Salech fired in, but it was too little, too late.

Skipper Pelle Mattsson earned a corner in the 24th minute from a shot outside the ’D’ that hit a defender and went wide. The corner from the left earned another from the right and Kvistgaarden found himself unmarked to head home from six yards.

Anis Ben Slimani came on up front in the second half for Norwich and headed past Nathan Trott in the home goal only to see his effort bounce off the top of the crossbar. Then Cardiff’s David Turnbull fluffed his lines in a one-on-one with Norwich keeper Dan Grimshaw to miss a golden chance in the 55th minute.