Oliver Skipp was thrilled to score the first goal of his senior career to help ensure Norwich City moved 10 points clear at the top of the table – but the Tottenham loanee admitted the leaders made hard work of their 3-1 win at Birmingham.

The hosts played with good energy in the first half but saw Teemu Pukki lash the Canaries in front and then waste a penalty, before Ivan Sanchez equalised for them before the break – with Scott Hogan missing a big chance to claim the lead.

Pukki scored again as City settled after the break and Skipp put the icing on the cake with a third goal deep into injury-time.

“We weren’t at our best first half,” admitted the midfielder. “All phases of the game really, our build-up, a few mistakes and out of possession, too many crosses into our box.

“We seemed to lose a lot of second balls into our box, it was tough, and we knew we needed to show a big reaction in the second half.”

After claiming a degree of control, the introduction of Onel Hernandez midway through the second half gave City the spark they needed.

“At half-time we definitely needed to reset and almost switch on to the game, to do the basics better really and get a degree of control, which is what we’re about,” Skipp continued.

“That second half, maybe we didn’t even create as many chances as in the first half, but I don’t think they ever really looked like they were going to score.

“I felt we controlled it better and played our patterns of play a lot more, so it was a massive improvement.

“But we can’t start like we did in the first half and that shows the mentality of the group, to stay calm and know what we are about, to rectify the situation.”

The 20-year-old then found a late burst of energy to surge alongside Lukas Rupp on the counter-attack in the fifth minute of added time, who unselfishly teed up the England Under-21 international for his first Canaries goal with a simple tap-in, to add some gloss to a disjointed display.

“It was a great feeling,” Skipp added. “First off, you’ve got to give credit to Jordan (Hugill), a massive header in the box and then Lukas, I just sensed he might nip in before their player.

“He’s done all the hard work and I was there to benefit from it, so it was great vision from him because a lot of people would have been, not selfish, but would definitely have been within their rights to have a shot.

“But he just laid it on and I couldn’t miss really!”