RUDY GESTEDE was sent off as Middlesbrough crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Norwich City.

German midfielder Tom Trybull celebrated signing a new contract by scoring the winning goal for the Canaries at Carrow Road.

Having put pen to paper on three-and-a-half deal on the morning of the game, Trybull drilled home what proved to be the only goal of the game a minute before the interval.

By that time Boro were playing one short, having lost striker Gestede just before the half-hour mark for a crude lunge on Grant Hanley in the centre circle, and they never seriously threatened to get themselves back in the game.

A deserved win was a boost for Norwich's outside hopes of pushing into the Championship play-off, while denting the similar aspirations of the visiting side.

The Canaries made a bright start and it took a superb block from Adam Clayton to keep out what looked like a goal-bound shot from James Maddison in the opening exchanges.

But the hosts were unable to maintain the momentum and apart from a couple of wayward shots at each end there was little for the crowd to get excited about until the 28th minute, when the visitors were reduced to 10 men.

Gestede, who already had a yellow card to his name, inexplicably opted to fly into a routine challenge on the halfway line with Hanley going down after being caught by a flying boot. It was just a question of whether it was two yellows or a straight red, and referee Michael Jones chose the latter option.

With Adama Traore pushed forward in a central role ahead of two blocks of four, the visitors coped reasonably comfortably until a minute before half-time when Norwich finally made one of their long spells of possession count.

The ball was moved across the edge of box to Trybull, who took aim and beat Darren Randolph's despairing dive with a low drive into the bottom corner.

Norwich had a good chance to stretch their lead 10 minutes after the break when Maddison was brought down just outside the box. Unsurprisingly the same player picked himself up to take it but while his clever low shot went under the wall it also went inches wide of the upright.

Boro were hardly getting a look in and manager Tony Pulis brought on former City midfielder Jonny Howson to a big ovation just after the hour mark in an attempt to liven things up.

Randolph twice kept the visitors in the game with good saves low down to his right to keep out stinging shots from Nelson Oliveira before gathering another shot, this time from outside the box, from Josh Murphy.

Ben Gibson finally got an effort on target for Boro nine minutes from time, but his tame header from a deep free-kick was easy for an underworked Angus Gunn as Norwich comfortably saw out the game.