Dean Smith admitted Norwich City’s self-inflicted 3-2 Premier League defeat at Manchester United hurt.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick sealed the points but Smith highlighted Ben Gibson’s errors in the first half and felt Tim Krul should have kept out Ronaldo’s swerving free kick.

City hit back through Kieran Dowell and Teemu Pukki but left Old Trafford empty handed and still effectively eight points from safety with only six games left.

“Players don’t have to be told. They don’t need me going on about it. The biggest thing is you learn and improve. We made three big mistakes,” said Smith. “Tim gets a touch to it and I think he will be disappointed he didn’t save it.

"It is always a harsh one from me, when it is the keeper’s side. Maybe he was a bit unsighted because they set up a wall and he might have seen it late.

“The second goal, Milot Rashica loses a runner and we concede a corner and Gibbo should not let Ronaldo get a run on him. When you concede goals you can always look back at mistakes and our job is to improve.

“Extremely disappointed with the result, but pleased with the performance. You can’t give the goals away we did against Manchester United. If you concede three goals at Old Trafford, you usually lose.

“I felt in both boxes we could be better because we had some really good opportunities on the counter as well. (David) de Gea pulls off a really good save at 2-2 which could change the game.

“We knew there was some fan frustration around this place and giving them a 2-0 lead does not help our cause.

“Getting back into the game was really important. A good goal just before half-time and then Teemu has another chance with a header he probably thinks he could do better.

"At half-time I felt if we could be better in our half without the ball, in terms of going and making contact with them and pressing the ball, I felt on the transition we would be a really problem and that was proved.”