Under-23s head coach Alan Neilson admitted it was a mixed performance from his side as they lost 5-2 away at Derby County in the Premier League Cup.
The Canaries, playing a different system and without leading scorer Tom Dickson-Peters and captain Johnathan Tomkinson, found themselvces 4-0 down in the match inside 50 minutes.
However, they kept pushing forward and kept attacking and pulled themselves back into the match with two goals from Jonathan Rowe before he had a third ruled out for offside. Eventually, they conceded a fifth but Neilson was pleased with the attitude his side showed in the second half.
"It was a game that was very mixed," he said. "The goals that we conceded were poor. We had some players playing out of position and the goals Derby created were from that, but we came out second half and gave it a really good go.
"We conceded a poor goal at the start of the second half, but the lads kept going. At that point their heads could have gone down and we could have lost by a few more, but that didn't happen.
"We got a good goal back, from a good bit of play; playing out from the back and a good finish from Jon Rowe. He then scored another one and then he was unlucky as he scored another from a header, which was offside, but at 4-3 it could have been a different game.
"We said at half-time the next goal is really important for momentum and unfortunately they (Derby) got it, but the best thing about the performance was the players heads didn’t go down. They kept trying to play our way and scored two goals and we were a little but unfortunate not to get the third goal."
Speaking about the two players that were missing from the line-up, Neilson added: "We miss players of that quality, but they are in the first team squad. That is what the under-23s are here for; to push players to be in the first team squad. They are in there at the minute and that gives the opportunity for the under-18s or other players to play in the 23s and put their name on the team sheets week in, week out."
The result leaves Norwich City bottom of their Premier League Cup group with two games left, knowing that the team needs victories against Charlton Athletic and Reading to stand a chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.