NORWICH, Britain, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Norwich City scored two goals in injury time to snatch a 3-3 draw against Nottingham Forest after earlier being 3-0 down in Wednesday afternoon's EFL Championship match at Carrow Road.
The Canaries started the brighter of the two sides, pressing high up the pitch and dominating possession before striker Teemu Pukki's 8th minute shot was palmed just wide by Forest keeper Costel Pantilimon. By contrast, Forest had set their stall out to defend and frustrate their hosts, with Pantilimon frequently taking his time over goal kicks to the ire of the Carrow Road faithful.
Forest's containing tactics largely succeeded in taking the sting out of the game in the first half, with Norwich having the lion's share of the ball but finding the Reds difficult to break down and resorting to speculative long-range shots at goal.
The Canaries did find a way through the Forest rearguard in the 34th minute, but Jamal Lewis was unable to control his effort, and Norwich were made to pay for their lack of attacking impetus when Forest took the lead through Matty Cash on the stroke of half-time after a mistake from defender Max Aarons.
Despite being roared on by a capacity crowd, Norwich were showing little of the form that had seen them rise to the top of English football's second tier, and frustration started to creep in as Pukki saw yellow for an off-the-ball incident. Things soon got worse for the Canaries as Forest doubled their lead in the 64th minute, when Jack Robinson poked home after the City defense had failed to clear a low free kick.
With his team now staring firmly down the barrel of a home defeat, City coach Daniel Farke rang the changes, bringing on Onel Hernandez and Jordan Rhodes and switching to a 4-4-2 formation. In chasing the game, however, Norwich left themselves vulnerable at the back, and some more poor defending saw Cash grab his second goal of the game to put Forest 3-0 up in the 73rd minute.
This goal finally seemed to jolt Norwich into life, and the Canaries pulled one back shortly afterwards when midfielder Mario Vrancic's 76th minute shot deflected past Pantilimon.
City now poured forward in search of another goal, but Forest stood firm, and when a Norwich effort was cleared off the line in the 89th minute, it seemed as if the three points would be heading back to Nottingham.
To their credit, City refused to give up, and were rewarded for their persistence in the fourth minute of injury time when substitute Onel Hernandez's low cross evaded everyone and nestled in Pantilimon's far corner to reduce the arrears still further.
With time running out and nothing to lose, Norwich now threw everyone forward in a desperate attempt to score, and after Pantilimon saved first from Ben Godfrey and Timm Klose, Hernandez finally found his way through the Forest defense to make it 3-3 with the very last kick of the match.
The result sees Norwich remain second in the Championship, now three points behind leaders Leeds after the Whites beat Blackburn 3-2. Forest drop from 7th to 10th after Birmingham City, QPR and Aston Villa all won to leapfrog the Reds.
