The hard-fought nature of victory over lowly Sheffield Wednesday emphasised why Norwich City have no choice but to maintain their high standards if they want to secure promotion.

That’s the view of match-winner Todd Cantwell, whose fifth goal of the season secured a 2-1 win at Hillsborough on Sunday, curling a superb shot in off the underside of the bar in the 77th minute.

An eighth consecutive victory reclaimed the Canaries’ 10-point lead at the Championship summit, fighting back from a 1-0 deficit at the break after an off-colour first half against the relegation battlers.

“It was a really big win,” said Cantwell. “We didn’t start the game as brightly as we would have liked to, so to turn the game around in the second half with that sort of character was absolutely huge.

“We didn’t have our best first half and it was important for us to press and work our socks off really.

“We trapped them in, we didn’t give them any joy, Teemu (Pukki) got a goal at a great time, we’ve managed to apply the pressure at the end and hold on.”

Watford, Swansea and Brentford had all won earlier in the weekend to keep the pressure on but with 10 games remaining City are already on 79 points, with three wins likely to be enough to seal a Premier League return.

“It’s really important we don’t get too carried away, we haven’t achieved anything yet,” Cantwell continued.

“We definitely need to really concentrate on the next two games before the international break now, try to get those six points and just keep looking at it like that really.

“I don’t think there’s any easy games at this level. People will probably look at today and think Sheffield Wednesday are in the relegation zone, we’re top of the league, easy game.

“It was the complete opposite so we’ve got to take every game as a top game and ultimately that’s what it will be.”

The 23-year-old's goal came after fine work from Emi Buendia to win back possession and play Cantwell into the right channel, taking a crucial first touch to control under pressure, before curling a left-footed effort around the Owls keeper.

“I’ve done a lot of work on finishing in the last couple of seasons,” he added. “Me and Teemu quite often stay out and do some shooting (after training).

“So it’s satisfying to get two great goals like that, brilliant.”