Norwich City look to use Cardiff City heroics as inspiration ahead of another test at Brentford

Neil Adams knows Norwich City sent out a message to their title rivals on Saturday.

But he's more concerned with the effect his troops' sensational 4-2 comeback at Cardiff City has had in his own dressing room rather than the fear it has instilled in others across England and Wales. After plenty of away-day misery during a last campaign that ended in relegation from the Premier League, City's boss now hopes that the landmark victory will give the Yellows more confidence for matches on the road – starting tonight at a club who have only lost once in 21 league outings on their own turf.

'Of course seeing us 2-0 down and winning 4-2 will make a lot of people sit up and take notice I'm pretty sure but it was more about us on the day,' said Adams.

'It was a pretty big statement. There's no getting away from that. To be 2-0 down away from home against a team that's likely to be pushing for promotion as well, and to achieve what we did, was no mean feat. I said to them at full-time: 'If that doesn't convince you that you can achieve any result in this division then nothing will.'

'We've got to use this now and I think a lot of people will be referring to that game as a sort of landmark game where it looked dead and buried and we came out of it in the end quite comfortably.'

The Canaries could go top of the Championship this evening with a victory against a promoted Bees outfit who themselves are flying high at the right end of the table. A City triumph would once again show that the club really mean business as they look to secure an immediate return to the top-flight. And three points is just what Adams is after.

'They're a good attacking team and they'll pose a threat. But I'll always counter that with so will we,' said Norwich's manager.

'It's three points. I'm not dismissing the fact that being top is where we all want to be. But we'll just be looking at is going down there with three points as the objective. It would be fantastic if we are top of the league, I know (Nottingham) Forest play the next day, but we go into every game trying to win it. It's as simple as that. That's the philosophy. There's no secrets and teams know we'll be going there to attack.'

Russell Martin (back) and Kyle Lafferty (ankle) are slight doubts while the match comes too soon for long-term injury victims Gary Hooper and Jonny Howson – both of whom should feature during the under-21s' trip home clash against Leicester. Striker Cameron Jerome could be in line for a start after his game-changing 45-minute cameo at the weekend.

Adams added: 'We'll always be pushing for perfection as I think the moment you accept 'this is good enough, we're happy', then you stand still.

'Even when we win games, if we think there are things there that we need to be better at, we'll let the players know that. That's how you progress, that's how you become winners for me.'