Jonathan Redhead Norwich City winger Lee Croft says playing promotion-chasing Swansea City tomorrow could bring out the best in the Canaries. Croft is one of many players in and around the club that subscribes to the theory that Bryan Gunn's side tend to perform better against the better teams in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Jonathan Redhead

Norwich City winger Lee Croft says playing promotion-chasing Swansea City tomorrow could bring out the best in the Canaries.

Croft is one of many players in and around the club that subscribes to the theory that Bryan Gunn's side tend to perform better against the better teams in the Coca-Cola Championship.

And tomorrow Croft and his team-mates need to put the theory into practice to gain anything from their first ever visit to the Liberty Stadium to take on Roberto Martinez's men who harbour ambitions of making a late push for the play-offs with their brand of stylish, passing football.

"It's sounds stupid, but when we come up against teams who play good football, you tend to find that they also let you play good football and hopefully that'll be the case on Saturday and it'll be up to us to come out on top in the game of football and beat them,” he said.

“As I said before, the old saying that we beat the good teams I hope will come into effect on Saturday.

"I think we've put a bit more pressure on ourselves not picking up the points against Sheffield Wednesday, and hopefully we'll go there with the pressure off and put in a good performance.

“We're under no illusions, it's going to be a tough game, and hopefully we'll match them football-wise. And as we have done in the past, go and do well against a good side.”

Croft had been struggling with an ankle injury prior to the game against the Owls and admits he was not at his best.

But after a full week of training, the former Manchester City star, who is out of contract at the end of the season, is raring to make amends against the Swans and the home game against Watford at Carrow Road on Monday - matches Croft says are vital in shaping the Canaries destiny.

"I had two days training before the game last weekend and I think I maybe felt the effects of that a little bit, but I've just been working hard this week, doing as much as I can to refuel and get as much fitness as I can for the weekend,” he said.

"All you want to do is be out there on the field and get back out there as quick as you can. I was fine to play but I think that missing a few weeks training caught up with me on the day. No excuses, and I've been putting the work in this week to get in as much training as I can.

"It's a massive, massive weekend. I think after Saturday and Monday we'll know a lot more about what we've got to do and where we stand so these games over the weekend are massive.

"We seem to have everyone available and fit and that's important this time of year coming into the last few games we need everyone available to help us get the results we need."

Although he is only 24-year-ols himself, Croft has been impressed with the likes of Academy starlets Korey Smith and Tom Adeyemi who have forced themselves to the fringes of Gunn's first team in the past few weeks.

Despite their tender years, Croft says their desire for a place in the team is good for the squad as a whole.

"There's a lot of people and a lot of people fighting to get in the team and it's good that we've got Korey and Tom, two good young players who are in there or thereabouts now. It's good for competition for places and it give the manager options.

"There's some good young players. They have come to the forefront and Luke Daley's been in there as well in little spells, so it bodes well for the future.

“And at the moment they're showing real promise.”