Norwich City boss Paul Lambert hailed his players' character after the Canaries opened their Premier League winning account with a 2-1 success at ten-man Bolton today.

Anthony Pilkington and Bradley Johnson struck in the first half before Martin Petrov slotted a second half penalty for the hosts - City's fifth consecutive spot kick conceded since returning to the Premier League.

Norwich's first away win in the top flight stretching back to 1994 moved City up to 11th in the early standings - and injected renewed belief into the Canaries' camp.

'I thought we played very well. I thought we deserved to win the game and I am delighted,' he said. 'I never found a problem with confidence with them before. I said that to you before - whether we drew or got beat and that was testament to themselves because they kept coming back. I've never had a problem with the way they play the game - but I thought their general performance was excellent.'

Lambert made six changes to his starting line up from the previous weekend's 1-0 defeat at West Brom.

'Every decision you make is a difficult one,' he said. 'But we'll only try to pick a team that will win the game. As I said the other day, I just have to try and do my best for the football club and sometimes you make decisions but I explained them to the lads and they knew exactly why I did it.'