Norwich City Under-23s kick their October off with a night under the lights as they travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham on Friday (7pm KO).
Going into this tie back on winning ways, David Wright’s side will be hoping to build-up a win streak as they continue their mostly positive start to the 2020-21 Premier League 2 season.
The young Canaries got that win after overcoming Crystal Palace in a 3-0 scoreline, bouncing back after a 3-0 loss to Aston Villa in the week prior. To make that result even more special, it came during torrential conditions, both wind and rain included!
City were due to play the Cottagers before the curtailment of the 2019-20 season, and have to settle for the memory of their last outing to the side as a 2-1 loss in November 2019.
Opening their account early, Fulham found the back of the net in just the sixth minute against the Canaries, who then saw now first-team player Josh Martin reply with a goal of his own just eight minutes later.
Nicking one in the 77th minute, Fulham returned to London with all three points, leaving the City side empty-handed.
Fulham have got their season started in an ideal way, taking two wins from two with a game in hand. Taking victories over Reading and West Brom, the side’s aggregate score sits at an impressive 6-1 after just 180 minutes of play.
U23s right-back Ethen Vaughan says the team are in good spirits going into their game against the Cottagers after a good week of training.
“I think the feeling's been very good, to be fair. Obviously, we got a nice little win in the last game, so with that confidence, willingness and desire to win it’s been a good vibe in training and in the games leading up to Fulham on Friday night.
“The workrate in training from the lads has been brilliant, so I think we’ve a good chance for Friday.”
Vaughan didn’t just keep a clean sheet against the Eagles, but the right-back bagged an assist too. Speaking on the win and his goal contribution, the right-back was first full of praise for his teammates before crediting his own hard work behind-the-scenes.
“It was a tough one! Credit to the lads though, they stayed solid and kept a clean sheet. The rain and the wind were horrendous, but as a northern boy I’m used to it.
“I take my hat off to the lads, they really stuck at it and kept on the front foot and got the result we wanted.
“I’ve been working on crossing in training, the coaches have really put an emphasis on me and Rob [Nizet], trying to work on our deliveries into the box.
“I still think it’s something I can improve on and keep working on, but overall at the moment after all the training I’ve done for it, that has paid off and got me the assist against Palace.”
With an all-important EFL Trophy fixture against Newport County coming up just days after, Vaughan says the team are just as excited for that game against seasoned professionals as they are Fulham.
“I think the lads are raring now we’ve got a couple of wins under our belt and I think it’s really given us that confidence to just see it out.
“As a team, we’re really strong and competitive, going into Newport I think we stand a really good chance of putting up a great performance.”
You can follow all the action of the game on our dedicated Academy Twitter account.