91�ȱ�

Middlesbrough climbed into the Championship's top two by thrashing fellow promotion hopefuls Norwich.

Patrick Bamford gave Boro an early lead with a stooping header from Albert Adomah's cross.

Grant Leadbitter then scored twice, either side of the break, the first from a penalty and the second from a header following Lee Tomlin's pass.

And Yanic Wildschut netted their fourth, flicking home after John Ruddy fumbled a Leadbitter corner.

Victory took Boro above previous leaders Watford, with Bournemouth now top following their 2-0 success at Sheffield Wednesday.

Norwich, who could have gone top had results gone their way, are seventh and have won one game in their past seven.

Aitor Karanka's side, in contrast, have now only lost once in their past 11 Championship matches.

And the hosts took just five minutes to take the lead as Bamford, on loan from Chelsea, scored his fourth goal of the season.

There was not much between the teams in the first half, with ex-Boro captain Gary O'Neil forcing a save from Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, and Cameron Jerome and Kyle Lafferty missing the target for the visitors.

Boro got their second when Russell Martin fouled George Friend, and Leadbitter scored his fifth penalty of the season.

Canaries striker Gary Hooper, who cost the club about £5m last year, came on at half-time for only his fourth appearance of the season, but things got even worse for his side.

Leadbitter made it 3-0 with a looping header from Tomlin's ball over the top and Wildschut added the fourth with his second goal since his summer move from Den Haag.

Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka:

"We have very good players and a very good squad. We are in a very good way but these kind of games cannot confuse us into thinking everything is done.

"I am very happy and very pleased but we want to keep our feet on the ground. We would like to be in this position in May."

"I am very pleased with the result and the performance, especially in the second half. That means we have now beaten the three sides who were relegated, which is good and important for us."

Norwich boss Neil Adams:

"I am disappointed. We got what we deserved. It was not good enough at all and was surprising.

"We thought we could cause Middlesbrough problems. We started OK but the manner of the goals we conceded were not good enough.

"This is the most disappointed I have been. It's the worst performance I have seen. It's a heavy defeat and there are not positives."