JONATHAN REDHEAD Norwich City's Luke Chadwick has found himself in a bit of a hole - and he has no plans of leaving it any time soon. The Canaries star has had a troubled time with injuries since joining from Stoke City in January, but no he is fully fit and reaping the benefits of a full pre-season with City.

JONATHAN REDHEAD

Norwich City's Luke Chadwick found himself in a bit of a hole last night - and he has no plans of leaving it any time soon.

The Canaries star has had a troubled time with injuries since joining from Stoke City in January, but no he is fully fit and reaping the benefits of a full pre-season with City.

Before last night's clash with Dutch side FC Zwolle, the 26-year-old had been both creator and goalscorer in City's previous pre-season friendlies.

But manager Peter Grant handed him a role behind the two strikers in a 4-3-1-2 formation and the former Manchester United star was one of only a handful of bright spots for the Canaries in a 2-1 defeat.

Chadwick linked well with the midfield and attack and it was from his run from deep to get on the end of a Jamie Cureton through- ball and unselfish pass that Czech striker David Strihavka was able to bag his first Norwich goal.

And afterwards, Chadwick admitted that although he was disappointed with the final score, he was happy to be the “man in the hole”.

“ I enjoyed it,” he said. “It was a tough game and they're quite a good team.

“I was playing just behind the strikers and their midfield dropped deep as European teams do so it was tricky but I thought for the first 20 to 25 minutes we played it really well. But then we dropped a bit deep and obviously in the end it was a disappointing result.

“It was a nice goal. There was good movement. We've been working on that in training a lot. Curo's come short and I've spun in behind and it worked well and it's nice for David to get his goal.

“I had a terrible time after signing for the club so now I've put that behind me, touch wood, so hopefully now I can get going and get a few goals and set a few up, too.

“I've done all right, scored a few goals, set a few up, so hopefully I can force my way into the team and get going in the league games.”

And he revealed that the rest of the squad had been keen for Strihavka, who is quickly developing a cult following, which was in evidence in Holland again last night, to break his goalscoring duck.

“I think everyone wanted him to get a goal and he wanted to get one himself,” Chadwick said. “Obviously he's working really hard and he's a really good player and it's great for him to get off the mark and I'm sure that's going to be the first of many.”

Next up for Chadwick and the City team is a clash against another of his former clubs, Premiership big spenders West Ham United, on Tuesday night in the first pre-season friendly at Carrow Road.

It's a game the Cambridge-born star is looking forward to and he knows it will be a step up from the likes of games against Lowestoft Town and King's Lynn to face a team packed with internationals and ex-Canaries in the shape of Craig Bellamy, Dean Ashton and Robert Green.

“I think that's the first real proper game for us,” he said. “We've all worked on our fitness and played three or four games now and we're ready to go at West Ham which is a really big game against a really big team.”

Grant was also happy with Chadwick's performance in the role behind the front two.

“Luke sees round about him and he can play in that area of the pitch,” said Grant. “It was just something we wanted to try. We've tried a few different things and I think it has been worthwhile and the players have felt comfortable in the positions we've put them in.

“It's just a case of managing it more. Overall, I'm very pleased.”