AS WELL as the stirring last minute comeback against Gillingham on Saturday, another welcome sight for Canary fans was the return to action of City midfielder Stephen Hughes.
The Scotsman had been pushing himself into contention as a first team regular under new boss Paul Lambert, before a strong challenge by former Canary Luke Chadwick at MK Dons two weeks ago seemingly put that in danger - Hughes subsequently stretchered off after only 20 minutes with a nasty looking ankle injury.
However, the 26-year-old has recovered well, only missing City's last home match against Charlton, and is pleased to be back: "I think it was just the way the guy caught me, he hit the nerve and I lost a little bit of feeling. But thankfully that's ok and I only missed the one game. It probably could have been a lot worse but it's not too bad, I'll just play on and put that behind me."
Hughes had only just returned to training on Thursday and had been closely monitored ahead of Saturday's trip to Kent, but the midfielder is confident of his fitness after coming on as a 40th minute substitute for an injured Jon Otsemobor: "It's getting there. Obviously I missed the game against Charlton but managed to play 50 minutes on Saturday so the fitness is fine.
"Hopefully I'll be in the squad tomorrow. I'm feeling good, so I'll be looking forward to the game tomorrow and hopefully play some part in it."
Hughes believes Darel Russell's 94th minute equaliser at the weekend was perfect reward for the Canaries' committed display: "After we went down to ten men I thought we showed good resilience anyway, and good character to get back in the game and were perhaps unlucky at the death when we could have just sneaked it.
"You make your own luck but at the end of the day we had a chance. Holt went down at the end and it looked like a penalty to everyone. But these things happen and hopefully it will even itself out and we'll get a few decisions for us tomorrow."
Watch the full interviews with Stephen Hughes, Tom Adeyemi and manager Paul Lambert on Canaries Player.
The Scot also had a word for debutant Declan Rudd who came on for the dismissed Fraser Forster in goal: "He was great. For his debut it was brilliant, he came in and made some fantastic saves and got a point at the end of the day - so a debut to remember for him.
"He's done well in training, he's been in and around training with the boys since I've been here. So everybody knows he's a good goalkeeper and it's not surprising that he's come in and done well."
Hughes believes the last two games show a fighting spirit in the Canary camp, which can be taken into Tuesday night's match with Leyton Orient: "We've shown we don't throw the towel in and we keep going right until the end.
"I think we've been unlucky in some games, but hopefully tomorrow night should be a good game for us anyway, we'll get the crowd behind us and hopefully get the three points.
He continued: "I don't know much about them, but I'm sure they'll come with a game plan. But it's up to us to go out and try and win the game what ever way they come and play."
Tickets are still available for Tuesday night's match with Leyton Orient by logging on to online ticketing, by calling 0844 826 1902, or in person at Carrow Road ticket office or the Canary Store in The Mall, Norwich.
