Norwich City winger Luke Chadwick today spoke of his “massive” frustration at not being able to help his struggling team-mates re-discover their early season form.

Norwich City winger Luke Chadwick today spoke of his “massive” frustration at not being able to help his struggling team-mates re-discover their early season form.

The former Manchester United and Stoke City man has been forced to watch his ailing team-mates from the sidelines following a freak knee injury sustained on his debut for the Canaries against Ipswich Town in November.

The Canaries have since slumped to 17th position in the Championship table prompting Chadwick to re-double his efforts to get fit for the New Year.

“It's been a massively frustrating time,” admitted the 26-year-old. “Not being able to go out and train every day has been a nightmare.

“The fact that the team have not been able to get results makes it even worse but it makes you even more determined to get back as soon as possible.”

The dream of scoring for City in his first appearance soon turned into a nightmare against Ipswich when a heavy challenge from Matthew Bates smashed Chadwick into the advertising hoarding resulting in a four-inch gash across his knee.

“The gash isn't the problem,” added Chadwick. “It's the damage I sustained to the actual knee on impact of the advertising boards.

“When the surgeon operated on me he said it would take about eight weeks to get back. I didn't think it would take as long as that but the knee has taken a bit of time to respond.

“If I can just get back on the training field it will only take a week or so for me to get back available for selection. It's just a case of not having a reaction to the injury in the next week or so and I'll be fine.

“I'm not going to set any targets for when I'll be back as sometimes you just cannot tell.”

Despite Norwich going five games without a win, Chadwick insists the players still harbour ambitions to make it into the Championship play-offs.

He said: “It's strange that the team aren't getting results as we've certainly got the players to be a lot higher than where we are at the moment.

“Hopefully we can pick ourselves up and climb up that table. That's the thing about this league I just don't think you're ever out of the running for promotion. If we can go on a run then we'll be right back in contention.”