David Wright admitted his Norwich City U23 side never got going as they were defeated 2-1 by Wolves in their final fixture before the Christmas break.
Abu Kamara, a player is impressing in the Canaries youth ranks, netted late on to reduce the deficit but City were unable to close the two-goal cushion Wolves created.
The visitors assumed the ascendancy from the off and it took them only 15 minutes to open the scoring when Lewis Richards scored from a tight angle, rifling his effort beyond Jon McCracken into the roof of the net.
Owen Hesketh's deflected effort just after the hour mark ensured Wolves left Colney with all three points.
Kamara made his impact felt shortly after coming on. The 17-year-old turned on the edge of the box before firing a low shot past the goalkeeper. The midfielder scored a hat-trick in the FA Youth Cup last week in their 4-2 win over Wolves U18 side.
Reflecting on the defeat, Wright believes it was just a case of his side not finding their rhythm during the match.
"I just think we didn't particularly play well. We had a couple of flashes of quality but overall I think it was as simple as we didn't play well. We didn't really get going in terms of in possession," Wright told the Canaries official YouTube channel.
"We want to produce intelligent footballers and we can't always look to the sidelines for help. They've got to be able to understand what's going wrong in their own performance and within their collective. An intelligent footballer works that out quickly and does something about it.
"We just didn't get to grips with our individual performances and when that adds up across the team, you don't play well."
Duo Andrew Omobamidele and Tyrese Omotoye returned to the squad to gain some much needed match minutes after being involved with Daniel Farke's first-team squad during the recent injury crisis.
Wright was grateful to the pair for dropping back down and being involved but expects them to link up with the senior squad again in a matter of days.
"They've gone across and they're working with the manager now. They've done really well and this was a case of just getting ninety minutes under their belts. They will rejoin the (first-team) group in the coming days."
Norwich City U23: McCracken (c), Vaughan, Omobamidele, Tomkinson, Nizet, Dronfield, Giurgi (Rowe, 65), McAlear, Omotoye, Dickson-Peters, Springett (Kamara, 76). Subs not used: Blair (GK), Jackson, Khumbeni
Goals: Kamara (80)
Bookings: Dronfield (60)
Wolves U23: Sondergaard, Buur, Estrada, Marques, Richards, Bueno, Wan, Cundle, Shabani, Hesketh (Harkin, 85), Carty. Subs not used: Matheson, Ngolou, Nya, Scott
Goals: Richards (15), Hesketh (61)
Bookings: Hesketh (25), Estrada (37), Shabani (59)
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