Check out Paddy’s Pointers: Four observations after Norwich’s timely Owls victory.

1. Starter for three

A good night at the office for Norwich City. There have been precious few of those at Carrow Road in recent times. Including that hard-fought victory over QPR, which is now a link in a chain that shows four wins and a draw since beating Cardiff City. Or three points outside the play-offs.

Borja Sainz signalled his arrival on the main stage in scintillating fashion. Ashley Barnes was rewarded for his perseverance, after two big first half chances went begging. Sheffield Wednesday bit back ferociously after Sainz’s early goal but the Owls could not maintain the urgency or intensity of their pressing.

Where Barry Bannan had pulled the strings in that opening period, he became a peripheral influence. Norwich managed the game perfectly after Barnes’ early second sliding finish. That is a charge that has been labelled at them too often this season. It was not perfect.

There were some fraught moments in 10 minutes of added on time, and the Owls’ equaliser was sourced from Shane Duffy’s wayward clearance across his own penalty box. But on this occasion such adversity did not blow Wagner’s squad off-course.

A derby at Ipswich Town can be attacked with relish. That is the main course for their fans this week. Given enduring Carrow Road struggles a three-goal win must surely send them across the border with an extra shot of confidence. They will need every favourable element going.

2. Sainz stunner

If Sainz has been stewing about his lack of Championship starts perhaps that explained the velocity his right footed shot hit the back of Cameron Dawson’s net seven minutes into his full league debut for the Canaries.

It was a stunning strike, matched by the clever body swerve to receive Kenny McLean’s pass and open up his body, while leaving his marker the wrong side, in one flowing motion. An instinctive move that gave a first glimpse in Championship surroundings perhaps of why he arrived on these shores with 14 goal contributions from 34 appearances in the Turkish top flight last season.

This was the Spaniard’s first senior start since June, and a goalscoring farewell to the Super Lig. There was another nutmeg on Bailey Cadamarteri in the opening 15 minutes that delighted the home fans, who have been looking for a player with some devil and cheek.

Add the composed assist for Barnes minutes after the restart, with a cushioned roll with the outside of his right boot for the sliding striker to finish.

Sainz has a look of Wes Hoolahan about him – purely in terms of his physical frame – but the pace, dynamism and guile to unlock something that has been missing for most of the German’s Carrow Road tenure.

The standing ovation was deserved. And the hug from his head coach.

Now that first league start is out of the way the 22-year-old must become a staple in Norwich’s Championship line up. By Wagner’s own recent admission players in that forward area of the pitch must be judged on goals and assists. One league start, one goal, one assist, one win.

3. Sliding doors

Onel Hernandez and Christian Fassnacht out. Sainz and Jon Rowe in.

The ever-popular Hernandez last scored at Carrow Road in December 2019, nearly as long as Ipswich have had to wait for a derby win. Fassnacht looked a real asset in the early weeks of his summer move from Switzerland, but his output and influence had dipped dramatically. Wagner hinted pre-match the time had come for the Spanish winger.

A pre-season injury halted his bid to make a positive early impression, but his continuing omission as City struggled for form and finishers had exposed the Canaries’ head coach to an uncomfortable line of questioning.

Perhaps a more conservative approach in terms of his selections in wide areas was a by-product of that stated aim, after griding down QPR at home last month, to address a woeful goals against record.

But Norwich have lacked punch or potency at the sharp end of the park and been too reliant on Adam Idah’s predatory instincts from the bench to secure those away wins at Cardiff and Bristol.

One should not underplay the delicate balancing act Wagner has attempted to manage.

You might not accept it, but you can see why Kenny McLean at centre back is an experiment that is becoming the norm. The Scot was defensively sound again against the Owls.

But the logic for Hernandez or Fassnacht ahead of Sainz in these past few games was lost on many. His headline-grabbing early goal illustrated the point. Rowe’s stooping headed finish for City’s third applied the exclamation mark. They are the wide duo who carry the highest threat level in Wagner’s ranks.

4. Deep breath

Full steam ahead to Portman Road for a first derby meeting since 2019, and a fear – possibly bordering on a sense of inevitability from a section of the Norwich City fan base – the footballing plates in this part of the world have shifted.

When Kieran McKenna is referencing the importance of the derby back in the summer, on the very day the league fixtures were released, you know how much this means to the Blues’ coaching staff, players, club personnel and a fan base starved of success or bragging rights in East Anglia.

Look at the respective trajectories of the two current squads this season and it is hard to foresee anything other than a home win on Saturday. Set emotion to one side and consider this statistic – Ipswich have lost only once in the league at home this Championship season, and once in the entirety of last season’s League One promotion triumph.

Portman Road is a Football League fortress.

The highly-rated McKenna has transformed the culture, the playing style and the mood around a club which has been in the doldrums and reeking of decay. Saturday may well confirm the current footballing pecking order in these parts. Or maybe not. Maybe a welcome Carrow Road win and three goals scored into the bargain suggest Wagner and his squad do have enough about them to stand their ground and turn the formbook on its head.

Go the other way, however, and go under as they did so embarrassingly at places like Plymouth or Sunderland, and they risk halting a fragile recovery since beating Cardiff.

It will not be an occasion for the faint-hearted.