CITY midfielder Jacob Butterfield made a welcome return to action on Monday as he played 60 minutes of a 1-0 win away to Bolton Wanderers for Scott Marshall’s under-21s side.

Oscar Threlkeld’s own goal in the 76th minute at the County Ground in Leyland was enough to give City’s development squad their second win of the season, having swept aside Blackburn Rovers 3-1 in their opening fixture.

Tom Adeyemi also featured for the Canaries behind last week’s hat-trick hero Jamar Loza. There was a return to action for U18s defender Harry Barker too.

Both sides began the game well, but it was City who felt they may have been ahead on the 20-minute mark when Loza had the ball in the net after a goal-mouth scramble, only for the assistant’s flag to rule him offside.

The visiting City then called upon goalkeeper Jed Steer in the 35th minute, who produced a stunning save to deny former-Liverpool striker David Ngog what looked like a certain goal from a powerful header.

After the break Norwich began to take control of proceedings, but unfortunately Loza couldn’t produce a finish to give City a lead with just over 20 minutes to play.

An excellent passing move created space for winger Jacob Murphy, whose shot cannoed back off the post into the path of Loza, but he missed the target with the goal at his mercy.

The Canaries finally got a reward for their endeavours in the 76th minute though, as a probing move down the left and a fantastic cross from Josh Murphy resulted in Threlkeld putting through his own net.

Bolton tried to muster a response, but in the end City were too good for the hosts, coming away with a 1-0 win and their 100% record intact.

Manager Marshall told Canaries.co.uk afterwards: “The lads did really well, worked their socks off for each other, and we enjoyed some good passages of play.

“It was a good bit of play leading up to the goal. We went down one side, recycled it in the midfield, went down the other flank and Josh [Murphy] put a good ball in that put the full back under a lot of pressure and he put it into his own goal.

“Jacob Butterfield got an hour too. He really does have some great qualities on the ball, you could see that today. He’s technically very good, so it’s a good first step for him on the road back.

“We’ve a lot of guys coming back from injury, and have not played 90 minutes for a while, but there’s a good spirit and togetherness within the group.

“The lads that we’ve put together, there is a really good spirit amongst them. Good results always help that, but they train well, work well, and they always put big efforts into their learning.

“They deserved everything they got today which is good.”

FULL-TIME: Bolton Wanderers U21s 0, Norwich City U21s 1

BOLTON: Lynch, Maher, Kellett, McQuade, Threlkeld, Blakeman, Lester, Kelly, Eaves, Ngog, McKee

SUBS: Fielding, Sampson, Wolstenholme, Odelusi, Hampson

CITY: Steer, Barker, Durojaiye, Adeyemi, McNeil, Sheriff, Jacob Murphy, Clunan, Loza, Butterfield, Josh Murphy

SUBS: Matthews, McFadden, Hall-Johnson, King, McGeehan

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