Michael Bailey Cody McDonald was happy to volunteer as Norwich City's makeshift goalkeeper on Monday night, but conceded he did not have a clue what he was doing.The Canaries' second round Carling Cup defeat to Premier League Sunderland at Carrow Road was in its final seven minutes when Michael Spillane's red card also left keeper Ben Alnwick with a bloodied face from his subsequent challenge with Fraizer Campbell.

Michael Bailey

Cody McDonald was happy to volunteer as Norwich City's makeshift goalkeeper on Monday night, but conceded he did not have a clue what he was doing.

The Canaries' second round Carling Cup defeat to Premier League Sunderland at Carrow Road was in its final seven minutes when Michael Spillane's red card also left keeper Ben Alnwick with a bloodied face from his subsequent challenge with Fraizer Campbell.

With manager Paul Lambert having already used all three substitutions, Norwich were not only down to nine men but looking for a volunteer to don the gloves.

McDonald was the man to step up and he managed to keep a clean sheet during his goalkeeping cameo, despite Carlos Edwards cracking the crossbar from long range.

"If I'm being honest, I didn't really know what I was doing," admitted McDonald, whose first responsibility was to sort out the wall for a Black Cats free-kick on the edge of his area. "I just got them as close to the post as I could. I was a bit nervy on the goal kick and that as well, but it's just one of those things where one of us has got to do it.

"The manager called for Chrissy Martin to go in goal, but me and Chris said that it'd be best for one of the top two to go in goal and I stepped forward out of the two of us because I don't really mind going in goal, so it's just one of those things.

"It was a bit of a tough situation for the team to be in, but someone has to do it unfortunately."

McDonald was cheered at every turn after taking Declan Rudd's green jersey and showed some more than adequate distribution, but despite the Barclay's rousing reception City's new striker-cum-goalkeeper hopes the future cheers will be reserved for his scoring exploits.

Of the cheering, McDonald said: "It was for the wrong reasons, unfortunately. Obviously the game was the disappointing thing but we have just got to look forward to the next game now and hopefully we can make things better."

The Norwich striker conceded the two division gap that now exists between the Canaries and Sunderland told in the end, despite a spirited showing from the home side, who more than held their own over the game's opening half-hour.

"Yes, the quality did tell in the end but I thought we got off to a bright start until the first goal," said McDonald.

"We played some nice football and we had just about as many chances as they did.

"But it was one of those things where it did show a little bit towards the end and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of it."

In the end, Norwich's defensive problems came back to haunt them as Sunderland effectively ended the game with three goals in the space of 11 first-half minutes.

The Canaries have conceded 13 goals in their three games at Carrow Road this season and a lack of tracking from midfield did most of the damage on Monday night.

McDonald believes Norwich need to stop learning and start doing - and quickly.

"We've got to stop this learning curve, stop it somewhere and stop conceding these sloppy goals," he said. "But if you do those things against a team of Sunderland's quality then they are going to punish you more than the teams will in League One."

It is still less than a week since Paul Lambert had his first look at the Norwich playing squad as manager and he will have a much better idea of the job on his hands after using 18 players in his first two games.

And McDonald believes the players feel like they are on trial as the new City boss and his assistant, Ian Culverhouse, familiarise themselves with the players at their disposal.

"I think there is; in training everyone's obviously wanting it at lot more than what they did, which is for the wrong reasons really," admitted McDonald. "But I suppose it is there because the manager's come in and changed the whole complexion of the team, for the right reasons."

Although McDonald enjoyed the experience of being in goal, he is not about to ask his manager for a second bite of the cherry.

He said: "Definitely not, I think Declan (Rudd) and Mickey (Theoklitos) will have something to say about that."