It wasn't easy for Norwich to give themselves what was, for 24 hours at least, a seven point buffer to the Championship play-off places on Friday night.

Then again, there were few who ever expected Daniel Farke's side to be in such a position with just ten games of the season remaining, but Friday night's win at home to Swansea allowed them to do just that.

For much of the encounter that lifted the curtain on the weekend's Championship fixtures, it looked as though the weight of expectation was finally about to bring the league leaders down.

Against a side who only dropped out of the Premier League last season, not many were predicting anything other than a home win at Carrow Road, but as is so often the case in the Championship, that seemed to count for nothing for so much of the opening exchanges of the game.

It was the visitors, led by the dangerous Dan James, who enjoyed the best of the chances in the opening 45 minutes, while at the other end, the usually reliable Teemu Pukki was for once found wanting in front of goal, putting the host's best chance of the first half narrowly wide when through on goal.

This was fast becoming a game that, were Norwich to take the three, would be go down as the cliched "stuff of champions" victory: grinding out the win without really producing any sort of dominant performance, and ten minutes into the second half, they were given the chance to do just that.

Breaking into the Swansea penalty area,  Emiliano Buendia fired home a stunning left footed strike, and though both sides had chances, Puuki missing another chance which came back off the post, the Argentine's effort would prove to be the only goal of the game.

That Norwich were able to see out a game like this should give them huge confidence heading into the decisive final ten games of the season.

Seven of The Canaries' final ten opponents are currently in the bottom half of the table, and with several of those still potentially set to be involved in a relegation scrap when they meet Farke's side, Norwich may well have to rely on the same sort of patience and moments of individual brilliance to break down sides who may well see a point against the league leaders as a vital one in the fight for survival.

The closer Norwich get to promotion, the more the pressure will grow on The Canaries, and you feel that Norwich will have draw on everything they have to prove the early season doubters wrong, the fact that they did that on Friday is something they should, and will, take a huge amount of confidence from.