Manager motivated by challenge

TAKING ON the ‘challenge’ of the like that Norwich City are currently facing is one of the main reasons why he went into football management, says Chris Hughton.

City have just three matches left in the 2012/13 campaign, starting this Saturday with the visit of Aston Villa to Carrow Road.

Despite the Canaries not having secured their Premier League status for next season, boss Hughton says it is situations like these that motivate him as a coach.

“It’s always a tough job, but you do the job because of the challenges,” he said while addressing the media at his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon.

“We can speak about the challenge now – the challenge of going into these last three games trying to get the results that we need. They’re there throughout the season.

“You do this job because of them, and you never shy away from them, but you also do the job because you have a confidence in what you’re doing. We need to take that confidence into these last three games.”

Hughton says his team will be focussing on their own capabilities rather than worrying about an Aston Villa team sure to be on a high after Monday’s 6-1 win over Sunderland.

“They’re on the back of a very good performance, but I think what we have to concentrate very much on is ourselves and what we’re prepared to put in to try and win the football match,” he added.

“We approach every single game the same, in the sense that we want to win every game, but we’re playing in a difficult league with top players playing at top clubs.

“It’s about concentrating on our strengths – we are at home and we’ll have a fabulous crowd behind us, as they were in the Reading game. We have to very much look at the positives.”

When asked about team news, Hughton had a mixed report with regards to City’s defence, with Sebastien Bassong fit to play but Michael Turner all set to miss out with a groin strain picked up in the home victory against the Royals.

With the match set to be Kei Kamara’s last in his loan spell from Sporting Kansas City, Hughton also explained that the Club has until Monday to make a decision on whether to make a permanent swoop for the forward.

On Bassong, he said: “He’s fine, there are no problems. We’re ok, the only one who’s missing again is Michael but apart from that we’re fine.

“We have until Monday to make that decision on Kei. Of course there have been conversations between us, but the correct way is for those conversations to be kept private and to concentrate on the job in hand.”