Jonathan Tomkinson on the FA Youth Cup defeat to Manchester United

“I think the score line doesn’t really sum up how it went.  I think we struggled for the first couple minutes to kind of find our feet and confidence, but once we settled into it, it was much better.

“It hurts a lot that we can lose a game just from conceding from two set pieces.”

The FA Youth Cup isn’t the only tournament that the Canaries were in contention for, with the Premier League Cup quarter-final against Stoke on Saturday (11am kick-off) fast approaching.

Speaking on this, Tomkinson says it’s the right game for the team to bounce back on to recover their results.

“Stoke is the right game to bounce back on, absolutely. I think we’ll go into that and dust ourselves off because there’s no time to be upset when we’ve got work to do.”

An outstanding 3241 fans showed up to support the U18s on Tuesday. Tomkinson relished the support, saying it helps the side massively.

“The support means the world to us. You don’t see that happening at any other club, so having that support really made us feel happy.

“We felt loved, seeing that we matter to the community. That continued support is only going to help us in our careers.”

Both goals conceded in the Canaries defeat came from set-pieces, as opposed to free-flow attack. Discussing this, Tomkinson says that it shows how well his partnership with Man of the Match Jaden Warner works, preventing any goals from open play.   

“I think Jaden and I communicate really well, we understand each other quite well, which makes our jobs that bit easier. If we encounter any issues, we’re quick to solve it.

“We knew we were going to have a lot of pace, so we just had to adjust our line and make sure we were sharp all the time, you can’t get caught sleeping.

“Conceding from two set pieces shows we couldn’t be beaten in open play.”

“I think it was just in the final third that we lacked, the runs were there, but that last finish or pass wasn’t quite enough today.”