The injury comeback of Norwich City winger Matt Jarvis may have been brought to an early end but it is hoped the former England international has only suffered a minor setback.

Jarvis came off after just 20 minutes of a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Fulham Under-23s at Carrow Road, as he made his first appearance in a Canaries shirt in almost a year.

The 31-year-old, who has not played for the first team since May 2016, looked despondent when he limped off but City's U23s coach Matt Gill had encouraging news at full-time.

'Good news is it's not his ankle, which is fantastic news, he felt a little bit in his groin so as a precaution we took him off pretty quickly,' Gill said.

'He trained with us the last few days and has been excellent so the pleasing thing is it's nothing to do with his ankle.

'He's been there, seen it and done it. Some of the young lads have been in and around him during training so that's great for them. He showed a great mentality with the young lads, trying to help them, which we've had with all the senior boys this season.'

City's development squad now have just three games remaining of the Premier League Two season for Jarvis to target.

Gill continued: 'He was obviously disappointed to come off the pitch but his experience in those situations has told and he's probably thought there's no point trying to continue – and there isn't, there's the big picture ahead.

'Obviously this has been a process for a while getting him back fit and training and this is just a little bump in the road for him.'

REPORT & GALLERY: Jarvis limps off as injury comeback comes to a swift end during City U23s' defeat to Fulham

The former City midfielder was disappointed with his team's performance overall though, as Peter Grant's visiting Fulham side deservedly won 3-0.

'We've been in good form, winning five of the last six, so tonight is a bit disappointing and hopefully it's not the norm – we know it's not,' he added. 'But disappointed, not really us, not really the personality we normally show so some disappointed boys in there.

'They're developing boys trying to find their way in the game, they recognise what it takes to be consistent, there's always going to be inconsistencies when they are 17, 18, 19. So it's about them recognising what they didn't do well, what they did do well in previous weeks, and taking that forward.'

• Follow Canaries correspondent David Freezer on Twitter @davefreezer or on Facebook @DavidFreezer1