Norwich 1-1 Leeds: Guiseppe Bellusci alleged to have made racist remark to Cameron Jerome during draw
Mail 21/10/14By DEREK DAVIS FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Norwich City's 1-1 draw with Leeds United was overshadowed by an alleged racist remark by Guiseppe Bellusci at Cameron Jerome.
Russell Martin looked as if his header was going to hand City their first home win in five and strengthen their position in the top six.
But Leeds grabbed an unlikely equaliser through Souleymane Doukara to ease the pressure on manager Darko Milanic.
The game took a nasty turn midway through the first half when Bellusci and Jerome scuffled on the edge of the 18-yard box with the ball well out of the way and Leeds keeper Marco Silvestri got in between them.
Referee Mark Clattenburg then took Jerome to the bench and spoke to Neil Adams and the fourth official, before also having a word with Italian Bellusci.
No further action was taken at the time but moments later Jerome was booked for a heavy challenge on the Leeds defender.
Norwich boss Neil Adams said: 'Cameron has alleged a racist remark was made towards him.
'Because of that Mark Clattenburg came over to the sidelines to explain to me and Darko what had happened.
'I feel Mark Clattenburg has handled the situation very well. The statements have been taken now and Mark will make his report to the Football League.
'He has not heard the remark and all parties will make statements and it will be followed up through the correct channels.
'It is an allegation and we back our player but I don't want to prejudice anything.'
Leeds head coach Darko Milanic would not be drawn on the incident and said: 'It is difficult for me to comment on something which is new for me and I will leave it to other people in the club to deal with.'
In the game itself, Leeds had the first sniff of a chance when City keeper John Ruddy made a hash of a clearance, which crashed into Mirco Antenucci but his shot ran harmlessly across an empty goal.
Marco Silvestri, the Leeds keeper, saved a low shot from Jonny Howson and gleefully clutched an Alex Tettey 25-yarder, while Jerome went close with a flick on from a Nathan Redmond cross.
The inevitable breakthrough came in the 59th minute when Martin pushed away the defender and headed in a Redmond corner, unmarked, from 12 yards.
But four minutes later Leeds leveled when Brazilian midfielder Adryan played in Souleymane Doukara who managed to evade the attentions of three City defenders before beating John Ruddy from 20 yards for his fifth goal in 10 games.
After the two goals in three minutes, the game resumed its pattern of Norwich attacking from all angles and Leeds defending gamely.
Jerome went wide, Redmond hit at the keeper, Steven Whittaker headed goalwards but was thwarted while Tettey was wasteful with long range efforts.
After a storming start to the season former table-toppers Canaries, who had not won at home in the previous four matches, so were intent on attack with Kyle Lafferty causing problems with his physicality up front and had a couple of half-decent efforts on goal.
Leeds also started the season reasonably well after Neal Redfearn took over from David Hockaday but have gone south since Darko Milanic was handed the head coach job last month.
Despite a powerful attack, and handing Brazilian under-20s international Adryan his first start after signing on loan from Flamengo, United seemed happy to defend deep with numbers and not lose the game, rather than show any real ambition.
The Canaries had two penalty appeals waved away late on by an unmoved Clattenburg to compound their frustration.