Matt Gill felt his Norwich City Under-23 squad produced their best football of the season so far, despite being denied a win at Sunderland.

Irish striker Adam Idah gave the young Canaries the lead at the Stadium of Light on Sunday but the hosts hit back just before the break.

It was a fifth goal from five Premier League Two games for Idah, firing home from close range after Anthony Spyrou had knocked down a superb pass from the centre circle from midfielder Adam Phillips.

'We were disappointed not to win,' said Gill. 'We worked on lots of things during the week and we took all of it into the game.

'Our attacking play was fluid and the front four (Simon Power, Josh Coley, Spyrou and Idah) provided a real threat, along with our full-backs Bilal (Kamal) and Caleb (Richards).

'Against the ball, we were much better – we were a lot more aggressive and that's what I wanted to see. There's still plenty of work to do but it was a really positive performance.

'Josh Coley made his full debut and he was really bright in possession. He gave the team a different dynamic from out wide.

'We've had a mixed bag of results so far. We've had some inconsistent performances but that was definitely the best football we've played this season.'

REPORT: Sunderland U23s 1 Norwich City U23s 1 – Idah on target again for young Canaries

With two wins and two defeats already played out, the point leaves City sixth of 12 teams in Division Two of PL2 after five games of the season.

Gill's squad are straight back into action on Friday when they host ninth-placed Newcastle at Colney (2pm).

'We want to continue the good stuff we did against Sunderland,' the U23s head coach continued, speaking to City's official website. 'We've got a shorter training week this week with the Newcastle game on the Friday.

'It will be a tough game against a good team. They made lots of changes in the summer (in terms of players), like us so it should be a good test.'

A Colney clash with Manchester United U23s follows on Friday, September 28 (2pm), but fans planning to attend games at the training centre this season have been warned of limited parking spaces due to building work.