Norwich City moved top of the Championship with a 3-1 win against 10-man Burton Albion at Carrow Road on Saturday.

The Canaries again made hard work of swatting aside the Brewers to record a fourth consecutive league win, with Robbie Brady seeing his second half spot kick saved.

Martin Olsson put Norwich in front before the break but Lucas Akins equalised seconds after the interval. Jacob Murphy restored the home side's lead in the following minute before Ivo Pinto notched his first Canaries' goal in the final minute of normal time as Alex Neil's men won their first ever competitive meeting against the newly-promoted Brewers.

Neil opted to retain faith in the men who plotted a comeback Championship 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest by naming an unchanged league line up. The likes of John Ruddy, Louis Thompson and summer signing Nelson Oliveira were included on the bench, after featuring in the midweek EFL Cup 2-0 victory at Everton. But Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty were left out of the matchday squad, along with Sergi Canos.

Burton suffered a pre-match injury blow when on-loan striker Chris O'Grady was ruled out after initially being named in the starting XI.

Lloyd Dyer had the first effort of note in the 14th minute when he cut inside Pinto but lifted a rising shot over Michael McGovern's bar.

City finally raised themselves from a rather subdued opening quarter when Graham Dorrans superbly threaded the ball through for Olsson to compose himself and lift into the roof of the net 12 yards out.

McGovern was pressed into service immediately to preserve Norwich's lead when he dropped on Stuart Beavon's 20-yard shot.

Cameron Jerome spurned a chance for a second in first-half stoppage time when Jon McLaughlin and his defender Tom Naylor failed to deal with a speculative pass, but the striker slammed his shot into the side netting from a tight angle.

Norwich were rocked within seconds of the restart when Akins scrambled home a messy equaliser after the City backline failed to clear their lines.

The hosts wasted no time in restoring their lead with Jacob Murphy's deflected shot after exchanging passes with Jerome brushing John Mousinho on its way past Jon McLaughlin.

City were presented with a fantastic chance to seal the win in the 77th minute when Tom Flanagan was dismissed for a second bookable offence for handling Dorrans' shot inside his own area. Brady stepped up but McLaughlin guessed correctly, diving low to his right to claw out the Irishman's spot kick.

Oliveira made his home debut two minutes from the end of normal time for Jerome but it was compatriot Pinto who burst into the area to seal the win with a cool finish lifted over McLaughlin.

• Norwich: McGovern, Pinto, Martin, Klose, Olsson, Howson, Dorrans, Jacob Murphy (Josh Murphy 84), Hoolahan (Thompson 83), Brady, Jerome (Oliveira 88). Subs (not used): Ruddy, Bassong, Pritchard, Bennett.

• Bookings: Olsson (dissent, 62); Hoolahan (foul on McLaughlin, 83)

• Goals: Olsson (29), Jacob Murphy (47), Pinto (89)

• Burton: McLaughlin, Brayford (Flanagan 43), Mousinho, Beavon (Barker 88), Akins, Dyer, Ward (Miller 74), Naylor, Palmer, Choudhury, Irvine. Subs (not used): Bywater, Williamson, Fox, Harness.

• Bookings: Naylor (foul on Jacob Murphy, 33); Ward (foul on Martin, 50); Flanagan (foul on Jerome, 63)

• Sending off: Flanagan (handball, 77)

• Goal: Akins (46)

• Time added on: 3 minutes / 5 minutes

• Referee: Jeremy Simpson (Lancs)

• Attendance: 26,104