Norwich City boss Dean Smith bemoaned his side's lack of quality in the final third as they fell to an opening day 1-0 defeat to Cardiff.

The Canaries conjured up just one shot on target in south Wales and struggled to produce a consistent stream of service to the isolated Teemu Pukki - who limped out of the game in the second half with cramp.

Norwich have struggled to discover a creative spark throughout pre-season, and that continued into the opening of this campaign.

In the end, Romaine Sawyers' strike decided the affair, with Norwich failing to produce a response.

Smith was left particularly unhappy with two moments in either half as Dimitris Giannoulis failed to pick out Josh Sargent with a cross at the far post and Sam McCallum didn't slot Onel Hernandez through on goal.

Despite the defeat, City's head coach feels they leave the Welsh capital with positives.

“The second half was a little bit chaotic. The first half started really scrappy, and both sides were a little bit cagey waiting to see what the other was going to do.

“For 30 minutes we controlled the game,” Smith said. “Our final ball in the final third wasn’t as good as it should have been and we lacked that quality that, in the end, that has probably cost us the game.

“The least we should be leaving here with is a point. I thought in two thirds of the pitch we were really good but we were a little bit hurried and lacked quality in the final one. The moments that stand out – I think that Dimi (Giannoulis) should be putting it on a plate for Sarge (Josh Sargent) for a tap in.

“The same with Sam McCallum at the end with Onel (Hernandez). Our creativity has to be a lot better in the final third with both our runs and our final passes.

“I’m disappointed with the result, but there were some pleasing things in the game. It’s not a good start with us picking up no points.”

There were plenty of flashpoints in the second period of the contest, with both Perry Ng and City captain Grant Hanley seeing red after receiving two bookings.

The initial incident that sparked the Scot being booked was a 22-man melee prompted by a foul on City striker Teemu Pukki.

Asked for his thoughts on the incident, Smith felt both the referee reached the right conclusions.

“Fair,” Smith said. “I saw it quite clearly to start with. Teemu (Pukki) got fouled after he turned the lad, who should probably get booked.

“As he looks to get back up, the boy Ng has kicked him – so should have been booked for that.

"Then Grant (Hanley) takes exception to that and pushes him over with two hands. It’s a yellow card, but I don’t know why he holds his face.

“With the emotion of the crowd then – he's an experienced player and he doesn’t need me to tell him that their crowd and the players were going to be onto him and they were.

“If he caught the lad, then it’s a second yellow.”