Smith to shuffle his pack for Hibs' finale

The City head coach’s available frontline options got a stiff workout in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Scottish champions Celtic.

But the Canaries travelled with a number of their development players, who look set for action at Easter Road.

Young defender Jonathan Tomkinson is in line to feature, after first choice centre back Grant Hanley picked up a ‘contact’ injury at Parkhead.

Tomkinson was on the bench at Celtic Park along with Jonathan Rowe, Liam Gibbs and Abu Kamara.

“Hibs will be a much changed team,” said Smith. “We have had to bring some of the younger players with us. But it will be a test and I want that because it will hold us in really good stead going into the Cardiff game.

“We got a good few minutes into players on the pitch (at Celtic) and that will serve them well. It was a real good test for us. The way they play. The speed they play at. They have really good technicians. I was happy with the test.

“You can see what they have been working on. They have good rotation, good movement, the full backs come inside and the wider players then drift into those spaces and try and give you overloads in different parts of the pitch. They are a Premier League team in the making.

“If I look at the amount of ball they had, the keepers did not have to make that many saves. I thought we defended the last line really well. Sometimes they played through the press at times but we stuck together in those moments. There were some good signs.

"I thought we were a bit wasteful at times when we won the ball back. We gave ourselves the problems in giving the ball away too cheaply.”

Experienced defensive duo Ben Gibson and Sam Byram are not part of the short Scottish trip, as they look to put themselves in contention for the league opener at Cardiff.

“I think Sam is back on the grass, Monday. Not too sure on Gibson but shouldn’t be too long,” said Smith, who previously said the duo had muscular issues following the win at Cambridge.