Bristol Rovers 1-3 Norwich City: Canaries come from behind to book Liverpool FA Cup tie

Championship side Norwich came from a goal down to see off League One Bristol Rovers 3-1 and reach the FA Cup fourth round.

Yet two goals in five minutes early in the second half turned the tie on its head as Gabriel Sara scored a simple equaliser when the ball rebounded into his path off the post.

Adam Idah then put the Canaries in front from the penalty spot before Kenny McLean scored a late clincher three minutes from time just as Rovers were in the ascendancy chasing an equaliser.

Victory means Norwich will play Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday, 28 January at Anfield in the fourth round.

Having come from behind at Carrow Road to earn a 1-1 draw and a replay, Rovers started the brighter and seemed more up for the fight against their second-tier opponents.

Luke Thomas had the first real chance on goal with a header that initially looked to be looping awkwardly over George Long’s head before the Norwich keeper leapt to collect it.

The hosts then deservedly took the lead midway through the first half. Harvey Vale’s first set-piece bounced around the box before finding Anthony Evans, whose strike from range was only kept out by a fine diving save from Long.

When the second corner came in, the ball was again cleared to the edge of the area and McCormick – back in the starting XI for the first time since early October because of injury – unleashed a first-time strike that this time Long could do nothing about, straight into the bottom corner to get the Memorial Stadium rocking.

A Norwich side featuring seven changes from the one that beat Hull in the league last week tried to find a reaction but were limited to a couple of half-chances as Idah sent an effort wide before Sam McCallum’s long-range shot was tipped over the bar by Matt Cox.

The hosts had the perfect chance to double their lead right before the break when Thomas was picked out in space but despite having the time to tee up his shot, he dragged it wide.

Rovers also started the second half on the front foot as winger Thomas forced Long to palm away another strike.

But slowly Norwich stepped up a gear and showed flashes of what was to come when Idah broke through on goal one-on-one and Connor Taylor had to make a pitch-perfect tackle to clear.

The visitors’ breakthrough quickly followed as McCallum’s effort rattled the post and bounced into the path of Sara, who had a simple tap-in to an empty net.

Norwich breezed into the lead minutes later as they broke in numbers on the counter and a wayward leg from Thomas brought down Jonathan Rowe. While Cox got his hand to Idah’s penalty, the ball still ricocheted into the net.

Rovers were not down and out and Aaron Collins saw a shot parried away by Long, while Chris Martin had the best chance to draw level against his former team from six yards out but was denied by the Norwich keeper.

Rovers threw everything at a equaliser but Canaries skipper McLean wrapped up the win late on with a shot from range, meaning manager David Wagner will take his side to Liverpool a week on Sunday to face his long-time friend Jurgen Klopp.

Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor told BBC Radio Bristol:

“I was so pleased at half time in terms of our first-half performance, where we were in the game, the chances we created and being ahead.

“Then in the space of less than five minutes it derailed. A switch-off for their first goal and a little bit of quality for them and they capitalised. Then we’re looking to get back in a better feeling about the game and have a corner kick ourselves and then end up defending a counter attack and giving away a penalty in such a short space of time.

“All that hard work and effort we’d put in for a good performance all of a sudden turned into a difficult second half and then we were chasing the game against a quality team.

“We had quite a good chance when Chris hit towards the back post to get us back level but then we were always going to be open to counter-attacking moments.”

Norwich manager David Wagner told BBC Radio Norfolk:

“We made it a little bit more difficult because we needed a re-match but how the players have done this today after the first 15 minutes, where I think we needed to come into the game.

“When we were 1-0 down after a set-piece it didn’t make it easy for us, but how the players played after – even in the first half I think we played good football without the end product in the final third.

“We addressed this at half-time, the second half was fantastic, we played good football, created super good opportunities, scored good goals and have shown great character. There were a lot of positives today.”