Hughton wants more Norwich firepower

Norwich manager Chris Hughton has put his side’s 1-0 defeat at Wigan on Saturday down to poor finishing.

Having seemingly secured their Premier League position for next season after an impressive mid-season run, Norwich have only won one of their past 14 league games, leaving Hughton’s men four points off the relegation zone.

The Canaries have struggled to find the net of late and Hughton believes this limited attacking threat had contributed to the defeat.

“It’s about clinical moments, and they had the one in the game that got them the goal,” he said.

“I thought we were good in that first-half period – we broke well, and probably away from home, that’s as much as we’ve got into the final third.

“It’s two things when you’re away from home though – if it’s a close game you’ve got to make sure you keep that clean sheet, or you’ve got to have that little bit of quality that gets you that goal.

“We didn’t have that today – it’s something that we were guilty of and something we’ll have to look at but it was a never a game that I felt we were going to lose.”

Grant Holt is the club’s current top league goalscorer with just five strikes, although the Canaries have already announced the signing of the prolific Dutchman Ricky van Wolfswinkel for next season.

“Statistics don’t lie but our general play has been good enough, as anybody that was here today will have seen,” Hughton admitted.

“To win games, though, you’ve got to score goals and we’re finding that a little more difficult at the moment.”

With their relegation rivals rapidly closing in, the 54-year-old remained confident that his side could stay up, provided that they continue to pick up results at Carrow Road.

“We’ve got seven games left, and four of them are at home,” he continued.

“For clubs like ourselves, it’s always going to be about your home form. We need to make sure that we pull all the good things out of that game today and take advantage of the fact that we’re at Carrow Road.

“The only way our situation can change is by getting the points that we need and the wins that we need. That starts with the next game against Swansea.

“You have to be confident that you’ve got enough in the squad to get the points that are needed. Absolutely we have, but we have to show it. Today’s a disappointing day, but we need to turn it into a good day next week.”