Norwich City 2 Ipswich Town 1
A sickening injury to Ipswich striker James Scowcroft overshadowed an action packed East Anglian derby at Carrow Road.
The England Under 21 star suffered a horrific clash of heads with colleague Matt Holland after just 16 minutes and the game was held up for a full six minutes while he received treatment on the pitch.
Eventually the clearly dazed youngster was stretchered slowly off the pitch, after being fitted with a neck brace.
And the signs were that he was suffering from a serious injury, perhaps to the spine - although there was no confirmation of this during the match.
While all thoughts were with Scowcroft at the final whistle the home fans were celebrating a victory their side just about deserved in a truly pulsating encounter.
The Canaries were ahead after just eight minutes when a long ball from defence by Craig Fleming caught Town defender Jason Cundy napping.
Darren Eadie, back after a three-match absence with a calf strain, nipped in and took the ball past keeper Richard Wright before scoring from an acute angle.
A frenetic spell at the end of the first half saw Andy Marshall pull off fine saves to deny Alex Mathie and Mark Stein while his England Under 21 colleague Wright was in superb form at the other end to tip over a deflected Kevin Scott header.
Norwich moved 2-0 ahead in bizarre fashion after 59 minutes when Eadie's free kick from the left forced panic in the visitors' defence and Tony Mowbray somehow contrived to head against the shins of Cundy with the ball then gently trickling into the far corner of the net.
But Ipswich were far from finished and Stein gave them a lifeline 17 minutes from time when he nodded home substitute David Kerslake's inch perfect cross from the right.
That set up a thrilling finale with the heroic Marshall forced to make two excellent saves from first Mowbray and then Bobby Petta to prevent Ipswich from grabbing an dramatic equaliser.
Darren Eadie (8)
Mike Milligan
Craig Bellamy
