Norwich boss Daniel Farke admits he is “unbelievably proud” of his players after seeing them thrash QPR 4-0 to make it eight wins on the trot and move another step closer to promotion.
Norwich were in command from the start against a poor QPR side and were 2-0 up inside 12 minutes thanks to goals from Emi Buendia and Marco Stiepermann.
The Sky Bet Championship leaders continued to dominate and Teemu Pukki made it 3-0 just before half-time after Buendia had caught Luke Freeman in possession.
Buendia saw red midway through the second period for a late lunge on Josh Scowen but Norwich still had enough about them to grab a fourth near the end, with Pukki bursting through to score his 27th goal of the season.
A delighted Farke said: “We have been set many different challenges in recent weeks but we always seem to find any answers.
“It doesn’t surprise that we keep winning games because I have a lot of faith in this group – but I am unbelievably proud of them.
“We have had a lot of good of wins this season and this one certain compares with them. We played some excellent football, especially in the first half, scored three goals and could easily have had four or five.
“And we ended up scoring another goal in the second half and getting a clean sheet so I am very pleased,
“Whatever happens with the other teams it has been a good weekend because we have won our game – that is the only thing we can focus on. We are in a good situation now but we will have to wait and see how the other teams do.”
Farke said he could understand when Buendia was shown a red card – but hopes he will not receive a ban as a result.
“We were winning 3-0, the ball was in a non-dangerous area and there was no need to go into the tackle so quickly. Emi is a young player and he needs to learn from this,” he said.
“But it wasn’t a tackle from behind and there were several like that against us which were not punished. He also did not touch the player and there was no injury.
“I do not complain about the red card but hopefully when the EFL have had a look they will decide that the Emi should not be banned for that.”
QPR caretaker manager John Eustace – who took over the reins following Monday’s sacking of Steve McClaren – admitted his side could have no complaints about the final scoreline.
“We were up against a really good Norwich side who are probably going to win the league and it was always going to be a tough game for us,” he said.
“Having said that I was very disappointed with the way we defended early on. When Norwich scored their first it seemed to drain the confidence out of the lads and it was a very difficult first half for us.
“I was disappointed with the way the goals were conceded but you have to give full credit to Norwich, who were playing very well
“We changed the shape in the second half and made it more difficult for Norwich. The subs did well and we can take some positives for the way we went about things after the break.
“Now it’s a question of brushing this one off and preparing for a huge game at Millwall next week.”
Asked if he thought he would still in charge for that one, Eustace added: “I can’t really say. I was asked to take over when Steve (McClaren) left and I will continue to do that until told otherwise.”
