Yaya Toure’s late penalty spared the blushes of England goalkeeper Joe Hart and kept Manchester City on top of the Premier League in a dramatic finale.
The home side, still without injured Sergio Aguero and David Silva, thought they had done enough to secure three points when £32million defender Nicolas Otamendi scored his first goal at The Etihad with a fantastic header.
But with seven minutes left, Hart came out to take a regulation catch from Robbie Brady’s high cross, only for the ball to squirm out of his left glove and bounce down for Cameron Jerome to equalise.
Having picked up only two points out of a possible 15, Norwich manager Alex Neil organised his team superbly against a rampant Manchester City team who had scored 16 goals in their previous three home games in domestic competition.
Norwich had a bank of four in front of a bank of five while home manager Manuel Pellegrini felt confident enough to name two out-and-out strikers; Wilfried Bony and Nigerian teenager Kelechi Iheanacho for his first Premier League start.
Neil would have been delighted with Norwich’s start, restricting the home side to one chance when Bony bulldozed his way through and forced a fine save from Ruddy with a rasping shot.
Encouragingly, when Norwich won their first corner they threw enough bodies forward to make life uncomfortable for Hart.
Iheanacho won’t please traditionalists with his No 72 shirt but the boy can certainly play. He’s already scored a couple of goals this season and can also spot a pass.
Bony holds his head in his hands after firing over the bar when presented with a good opportunity to open the scoring
After 20 minutes, he threaded a ball through for Bony. The Ivorian’s movement was good but once in the danger zone, he took a wild swipe that was more of a danger to City fans behind the goal than Ruddy.
Another strong effort from the striker, this time from Kevin De Bruyne’s lay-off, was a bit closer but not close enough.
To Norwich’s credit, they were able to counter-attack at speed when given the opportunity. Hart, a virtual passenger until the 28th minute, did well to palm over Matt Jarvis’ rising shot as he ventured out towards the edge of his box. Another inch higher, it would have gone over the England goalkeeper and in.
Moments of Toure inspiration have been few and far between this season but one nearly arrived after 33 minutes when he caught a free-kick brilliantly and had Ruddy scampering across goal to tip away.
Approaching half-time, Norwich had done enough to show they would certainly improve on their previous visit to The Etihad which ended in a 7-0 walloping. On the other hand, not enough to suggest they would be able to gain the victory to climb ahead of Chelsea in the table.