Manager reacts as Canaries held by Fulham in FA Cup

CHRIS Hughton praised the efforts of his much-changed Norwich City team as they drew 1-1 with Fulham in their FA Cup Third Round meeting at Carrow Road.

With nine senior players missing through injury after a busy festive period of fixtures, Hughton was forced to reshuffle his pack, and his side will now face a replay at Craven Cottage after Robert Snodgrass cancelled out Darren Bent’s opener.

“We’ve had to manoeuvre the team around a bit, so taking that all into consideration we were delighted with what the lads gave us,” said Hughton when speaking after the game.

“We had David Fox playing 90 minutes having not played for five weeks and then Javier Garrido playing central midfield – the first time he’s ever played there

“Where we are with the injuries, it probably was the worst sort of result but we did an awful lot to try and win the game, including getting a lot of crosses into the box.”

Fox marked his return to the team with a man-of-the-match display, and Hughton was impressed by what the central midfielder offered.

“He hasn’t played a competitive game for about five or six weeks, so taking all of that into consideration I thought he was very good today,” he added.

“He of course went on loan, played a few games but then picked up a little illness and couldn’t get a way back into the team, but he’s here and he’s back now.”