Paddy Davitt Norwich City striker Simeon Jackson admitted the Canaries' Carling Cup exit to Premier League club Blackburn Rovers had given him a taste for the high life.

Paddy Davitt

Norwich City striker Simeon Jackson admitted the Canaries' Carling Cup exit to Premier League club Blackburn Rovers had given him a taste for the high life.

Jackson and the rest of Paul Lambert's squad would love a return to Ewood Park next season for a top flight fixture after mixing it on the big stage in last night's 3-1 second round defeat. He said: “Definitely, definitely. All the players in our dressing room are the same - they want to be at these places and play these teams. It was a good test for us and we need to switch back to the league now and look to get a good result at the weekend.

“It would have been nice to progress but the main thing for us is to do well in the league and we would prefer to do that. Obviously it is disappointing to lose and go out of the cup but our priority is the league now.”

Rovers' on-loan striker Mame Biram Diouf sunk the Canaries with a hat-trick but Jackson was only denied by a smart first half reaction stop from Mark Bunn. The Canadian international relished his first start alongside skipper Grant Holt after the duo had combined to devastating effect to seal league victory against Swansea.

He said: “I enjoyed playing alongside him. It was our first game together and it was good to gel with him. I felt we had a good spell in the game and if things had gone our way earlier on then maybe the result would have been different.

“It was only my second start and it was good to get 90 minutes under my belt. It was just unfortunate about the result. We felt we more than matched them for long spells. They went 1-0 up and we hung in there and we just had to kind of soak up the pressure and hope things would go our way at the other end, but they took their chances. We didn't take as many of ours as we could and that is the way it goes - the higher you go up the leagues the more clinical you have to be. At this level that is what happens.”

Jackson is confident he will justify Paul Lambert's faith if he can establish himself in the side following a protracted close season switch from Gillingham.

He said: “Slowly but surely I feel I am settling in. This was only my first game with Holty but all the players have helped me a lot and now I am just looking to contribute. You have to be on top of your game with the strikers we have here. It's a powerful strikeforce and that can only help us throughout the league season. I just have to get my head down and go from there - Forest will be a hard place to go but I feel we have enough about us to get a result.”