THIS weekend's international games mean the Canaries will have a break from action until they travel to Ashton Gate to take on Bristol City on October 18.

After last weekend's defeat against Derby County, City midfielder Lee Croft said the Norwich squad would be using the break to their full advantage.

"Obviously we don't really want a break at this time, especially after a defeat because we would much rather get straight back into the next game," said Croft. "The international break has come around and we've got to use these two weeks to recuperate and get ourselves back together, and work on a few things at the training ground. Hopefully we'll go to Bristol and get the three points.

"That's the good thing about football - if you have a bad game and you don't get a result, there's always the next match which comes quickly and you can get over it. After our defeat last weekend we've got a long wait which isn't nice but we'll use it to our advantage."

He continued: "It's difficult because in games like against Southampton, we played good football and it's frustrating because we didn't come away with the result. Obviously it was really disappointing on Saturday when they went down to ten men we thought we might have pushed on from there but it wasn't to be."

Saturday's game at Carrow Road saw  Reading loan-signing Leroy Lita make his debut in Canary colours. Croft added Lita had already made an impression on him in the short time he had been here so far. Croft said: "He looks sharp, he only trained with us before Saturday and he was really sharp in training. I think he showed glimpses of what he can do on Saturday and I'm sure there's a lot to come from him over the month he's here.

"He's a good player, he's a proven player as well so we just need to get used to each other and I'm sure he'll score goals for us."

Looking ahead to City's clash with Bristol City, 23-year-old Croft told canaries.co.uk Norwich would be looking to turn their luck around: "We played well at Bristol last year and it's a nice place to go and play, so we're hoping to play well. We need to get the results, the next two games are massive for us against two teams that are probably going to be up there come the end of the season so we need to prove ourselves against them.

"There have been games where we should have come away with more than we did, but it's a results business and we need to put that right. I think when results don't come your way then maybe sometimes some lads might get a bit down, but the gaffer won't let us do that and he'll make sure even on a Monday after a defeat that we forget about it and move on to the next game. I'm sure it will only take a result or two and we'll all be back to our normal selves and looking up rather than down.

"It's ridiculous really, some of the lads get injured and then Jonathan Grounds gets called back to Middlesbrough. It just all seems to be happening at the same time and I hope that we can get everyone back and push on soon."

Croft was asked whether he thought the Championship was harder than ever this season. He replied: "It's a tough division to be in, it's not easy by any stretch of the imagination. There's a lot of other teams and anyone can beat anyone and I think the key is consistency and that's what I've found - if you have a consistent run in games you suddenly find yourself right up there.

"It is a case of needing to be more consistent and we need to start getting some more wins under our belt and then the rest will follow."