Ante Crnac’s Recent Goal Surge Boosts Confidence at Norwich City

Ante Crnac, a striker for Norwich City, who has made 22 appearances for the club since his arrival, believes his recent performance, marked by three goals in their last two matches, is now demonstrating his capabilities to supporters. The young Croatian forward scored the concluding goal in Norwich’s 6-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle and subsequently contributed two goals in their 4-2 win against Luton Town at Carrow Road on Saturday. The 20-year-old had previously faced some fan criticism, having scored only once in his initial 15 appearances for the Canaries. During this period, he played first in a wider attacking position for Norwich, then moved to a more central role after USA international Josh Sargent sustained an injury. Speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk, Crnac stated, “It was tough when I came at the beginning, a tough couple of months, but now I’m feeling better, feeling relief.” He added, “Every position you play, you try to give your best, and strikers need to score goals.” Upon his arrival from Polish club Rakow Czestochowa in the summer, Crnac was granted a four-year contract, which included an option for an additional 12 months, signaling the club’s strong confidence in his potential. The Croatia Under-21 international maintained that the physical rigor of the Championship was not the underlying cause of his initial lack of goals. He elaborated, “I was one year in Poland without my family and now it’s everything new again. I’m not used to it, but I keep going day by day and keep working.” Crnac further stated, “I was physically ready, in Poland it was also a hard season and then we played Europa League, every three, four days (there was) a match.” He also acknowledged the support received, saying, “Everybody helps me a lot, Borja (Sainz) and the older guys Kenny (McLean), Shane (Duffy), all the coaches are good.” Against Luton, Crnac had an opportunity to score a hat-trick but chose to pass the ball to Emiliano Marcondes, who then scored to make the score 3-2, before Borja Sainz secured the final goal. Crnac explained his decision, stating, “I wanted to shoot but he called me, I felt he was in a better position and of course I pass him the ball. The most important thing is the result, the win, and the team.” Norwich currently holds ninth place in the league standings, trailing the play-off positions by five points. However, their total of 35 goals surpasses that of any other team in the division by four. He further commented on the team’s performance, saying, “It’s been a great week, we’ve played some great football. We know what we can do. Sometimes we make mistakes, but that’s OK, we are here for each other. “We have (the) highest goals, we will keep pushing match by match,” he added. Norwich is set to commence a series of six matches this month, starting with consecutive away fixtures against QPR and Portsmouth, who are currently the bottom two teams in the Championship. Three of their subsequent four games will be played at home.