Daniel Farke was proud of the manner Norwich City handled fresh adversity to beat 10-man Cardiff 2-1 and turn up the heat on their Championship promotion rivals.

The Canaries went into the game missing four players who had tested positive for coronavirus and then saw star striker Teemu Pukki ruled out on the eve of the match with a side strain.

Lukas Rupp and Josh Martin were also left behind after displaying flu like symptoms, although the pair did return negative coronavirus test results in recent days.

Farke also revealed after this hard-fought win, that moved his side eight points clear of third-placed Bournemouth, Emi Buendia had been exhibiting similar flu like symptoms in the build up, but the Argentine was fit to feature.

Add in a full league debut for 20-year-old keeper Daniel Barden and Farke could only hail the character of his depleted squad.

Grant Hanley and Todd Cantwell struck in the first half but Joe Ralls replied for the hosts, who also saw Marlon Pack dismissed for two yellow cards.

“Pleased and proud of that performance. Such a difficult week,” said Farke. “We had nine covid results, four players, we had players out through flu. Emi Buendia was struggling with the flu a little bit this week as well and you can imagine at the present time when you have someone showing symptoms you might associate with corona there is a little bit of panic.

“On Friday we had players more focused maybe on test results than concentrated fully on football. We also had several key players out through short term injuries. Add all that together and then you come to a difficult place in Cardiff and produce what we did in the first half, we were close to perfect in the first half an hour.

“We could have made our lives a bit easier in the second half. They scored out of nothing and brought their key man back for the first time after injury (Kieffer Moore), but we brought the result over the line. To win in these circumstances is outstanding.”

Farke is not ruling either Pukki or Tim Krul out of his thoughts for next week’s home game against Bristol City. Krul is back home with his family after a period of self-isolation following his positive coronavirus test result.

“Let’s see if there is a chance for Bristol over the next days. I wouldn’t rule him out and he is on the right path,” said Farke. “From the legal point of view he is allowed to be involved but it is how he feels in himself.

“He had quite a few symptoms and felt a bit weak so let’s see how the next days develop. He is much improved, he has no problems, so we just have to get him going.

“With Teemu, a bit of a strange injury. Normally it is something to do with the leg when you get an injury as a footballer. But he felt something in his side during training. He went to shoot and he felt this pain. Not a major injury.

“I hope he is available pretty soon but he wasn’t able to twist and sprint for this game, in terms of being 100pc, so it makes no sense to bring him with us. We hope he is available for Bristol.

“We just have to wait for a few days. It was a major blow but compliments to Jordan Hugill and how he performed.”