Hughes aiming to stay in the team

Stephen Hughes made his first Canaries start a week ago - and has no intention of letting his midfield slot fall into the hands of any of his rivals. The Scot - who joined City in the summer - has looked impressive as he worked his way into the fold, despite missing much of pre-season.

Stephen Hughes made his first Canaries start a week ago - and has no intention of letting his midfield slot fall into the hands of any of his rivals.

The Scot - who joined City in the summer - has looked impressive as he worked his way into the fold, despite missing much of pre-season.

Hughes is likely to feature at Hartlepool today, another step towards establishing himself in centre midfield.

“It's been a bit stop start - missing a good chunk of pre-season didn't help,” he said. “But now that I'm in the team it is my main aim to stay in.

“My fitness feels fine. I've worked pretty hard in the training sessions to get my fitness back and now it's just about me getting game time and playing as many games as I can and hopefully I can do that in the coming weeks

“There's a lot of midfield players, a lot of competition for places which we needed as well - it's a long old season so we need everyone fighting for the one cause.”

Thinks have changed since Hughes arrived on a Bosman during the summer, with Paul Lambert now in charge following the exit of Bryan Gunn.

“It's been quite eventful to say the least,” he said. “We had a good result last week and we're looking forward to this game on Saturday to get the three points and get ourselves back up the league.”

Lambert set the ball rolling last week with the 5-2 win over Wycombe.

“I think every manager comes in and has their own way of doing things,” said Hughes. “He has come in and shook things up a bit and obviously wants us to play his style, which is good, and the boys have responded to it.”