David Wagner would welcome a play-off match against Ipswich Town after praising the Yellow Army’s ‘amazing’ support in Norwich City’s raucous 1-0 Championship derby victory.
The City manager feels his squad is ready for a potential promotion rematch, with Marcelino Nunez’s free kick enough to keep Town waiting for their first Derby victory since April 2009.
Wagner rated the atmosphere created by home fans at Carrow Road as the finest since his arrival in Norfolk, and the German is hungry for more.
“In such setting, you can accomplish something extraordinary. “We can’t have this just once a season,” he remarked. “Now is the time for everyone to contribute. For me, it’s critical that everyone feels that if you have such a great, incredible atmosphere, then perhaps at the end of the season, we can get something extraordinary and special across the line as well.
“This was a first experience, and hopefully we will have a few more in the season.”
Wagner is confident City will have the psychological advantage if they secure a top six slot and Ipswich miss out on immediate promotion, setting up a potential spectacular derby return.
“Yes,” he answered. “To be quite honest, this is not my problem (who did not make the top two). But if I try to sit in the chair of a team that had an incredible season, and then they don’t get automatic promotion and have to play the play-offs, where everyone has a 25% chance of getting promoted, and you think, ‘Okay, I could be on the beach and reflecting on a promotion season, but I have to play the play-offs now,’ it’s obviously something completely different from us.
“We have chased the play-offs the whole season, and would be over the moon to be in the play-offs. This is different, for sure. Will it count at the end, I don’t know.”
Town manager Kieran McKenna was also quizzed about the possibility of facing Norwich in the play-offs. Ipswich remained in the automatic slots as Leeds lost to Coventry City, but the top three are separated by only two points.
“We don’t speak about the outcomes or the points totals much, but in reality we know there are two outcomes for us now because we’ve mathematically secured the play-offs,” he went on to say.
“Of course, with everyone’s tremendous work to this far, it’s feasible that we’ll clinch an automatic spot, even if it will require a record point total and all of that, and we’ll battle for it in the final games.
“But let’s be practical again. If we were in a play-off position at the start of the season, everyone would be overjoyed, and we know whoever we have to face will be a good team.
“But we also know, even after this game, that there is nothing to fear in this division; we can be a good team on our day, and we’ll focus on the next five games.
“We’ll give every one our full attention, we’ll look forward to them and then we’ll see where we’re at.”
Wagner fell short of making his first East Anglian Derby victory the biggest of his City career.
“To play against a league leader, and the biggest rival, and to keep a clean sheet against the team which scored so many goals. There were a lot of big headlines in this game,” he said. “The players totally deserved to get those positive headlines; to show this togetherness and this spirit to bounce back.
“Yes, this is a great win, but as I said before the game, at the end of the day, it’s three points, and now that we have them, I can’t make it any bigger. This is what we instantly said in the locker room.
“Enjoy this experience, but one thing is certain: we will go again on Tuesday (Sheffield Wednesday). This is exactly what I stated in the dressing room as well.”
