Carl Cort's return to English football after a year was a personal success - and a collective disappointment. But Glenn Roeder's newest recruit is convinced his latest set of team-mates are well equipped to climb the table.

Carl Cort's return to English football after a year was a personal success - and a collective disappointment. But Glenn Roeder's newest recruit is convinced his latest set of team-mates are well equipped to climb the table.

Cort, 31, came on for the last 36 minutes, with City battling their way through the mud and looking like holding the team with the best home record in the Championship.

It all went wrong in the final five minutes, leaving Cort reflecting on the mixed emotions that have been part of his life as he has battled to stave off a seemingly never-ending series of knee injuries.

"It was a funny situation because on a personal note it was fantastic for me to get back into the game at this level again," said Cort, whose last appearance in England was for Leicester at Hull a year ago today.

A lot has changed since then - Hull are in the Premier League, Leicester in League One, and Cort at Norwich, having been given a second chance by Roeder's "calculated gamble" until the end of the season.

"I feel good," he said. "Fitness wise I didn't feel too bad coming on. I came on slightly earlier than I thought, but I was eager to get out there so that didn't matter to me. But the knee feels good, the body feels good. There is no substitute for that sort of game and the more games I can get in the better and I can get back to full sharpness."

Cort is getting used to new team-mates for the sixth time in his career - and on the evidence of a couple of weeks reckons City have the wherewithal to get out of their present situation.

"There's a good bunch of guys here," he said. "I know a couple from previous clubs and they have all helped me settle in well, they are all very down to earth, which I like, and I think they are a very good footballing side. I like to play football and itthe sort of team I like to be in.

"I think what we need is a combination of things. The boys still have a lot of confidence - that's obvious just by seeing the way they train and the effort they put in on the training ground and on matchday as well.

"I think it's a combination of composing yourself in the situation we are in and also digging in, like we did today, and scrapping it out and I thought until they got the penalty we were coping with that situation.

"Before that we had a few chances and they had a few chances, but I don't think they threatened us too much, especially in the second half."