Norwich City Under-21s boss David Wright has expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance in Tuesday’s EFL trophy game against Cheltenham.

The Young Canaries’ 1-0 loss to Cheltenham Town on Tuesday evening did not do their EFL Knockout place any damage as they finished second in the Papa John’s Trophy Southern Group F.

The manager claimed that his boys were unfortunate to have lost the game but expressed that the experience they have gained is invaluable to their development.

“These experiences for our boys are invaluable, playing against seasoned professionals, I think it took us the first half just to sort of get into it and understand the game. Then we had a good chat about our level of intensity and, fair play to the boys, they came out and improved that in the second half. Unfortunately we just missed that final pass at the end to finish things off, which would have been great. But overall I’m pleased with the boys.” David Wright said.

Before the match, both sides had already secured their places in the next round of the competition, only the group winner was left to be decided.

The first half was pretty devoid of clear-cut chances, and it duly ended in a stalemate, albeit Norwich’s Tyrese Omotoye was denied by the League Two side’s goalkeeper.

The deadlock was broken in the second half when George Lloyd’s 67th-minute strike gave the hosts the lead and indeed the win.

By virtue of the victory, Cheltenham will be at home for their next knockout stage tie in the regionalized draws while Norwich City will be away to a team that topped its group, and there is a chance that the young Canaries could face West Ham U21s, Arsenal U21s, Oxford United, Leyton Orient or Cambridge United.

Two other groups are still to be completed.
 

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu