Norwich City's development coach Mark Robson said his youngsters had reaped the benefits of playing alongside the likes of Jonny Howson and Luciano Becchio in Tuesday night's 2-1 win over Everton's Under-21s.

Josh Murphy and Jamar Loza secured the victory with Toffees' skipper Tyias Browning replying for Alan Stubbs' visitors, but Robson was delighted with the impact of City's two senior stars. Howson played an hour on his first outing for two months following a back injury whilst Becchio was withdrawn 10 minutes later at Carrow Road.

'I said to the pair, 'Do they want to play next week?' but I don't think that will happen,' said Robson. 'It is always good to have a senior professional alongside you and the fact they both wanted to play just goes to show they type of players they are. For young Reece (Hall-Johnson) to play alongside Jonny I am sure he would have picked up some things. If he didn't I would be very surprised. To have Jon come in lifted all the players. They are two honest lads. We asked them to do certain jobs for the team before the game and to be fair they were comfortable. There is not too much you have to tell experienced players.'

Robson praised the impact of match-winner Loza who rifled home 10 minutes from time during what has become a frustrating loan stint at League One Orient, where the striker has had limited opportunities to shine.

'I thought one or two of the boys really excelled. Jamar had a really good game and deserved his goal,' said Robson. 'Jamar has been very unlucky at Orient. I spoke to Kevin Nugent, who is the assistant manager down there, and he played the first game, then he was left out for the main striker but he has hardly featured since which is disappointing. The opportunity is there for us to play him and that is a bonus that he can get minutes. I was very pleased overall. I thought it was a really good game and Everton were a decent side. They are probably the best team I have played since coming here. Certainly I would put them up there with Arsenal. We upped our energy levels from the previous game and at times we showed some great composure.'

Everton started brightly with Matthew Kennedy drawing a fine stop from Remi Matthews before Conor McAleny hammered the home crossbar. Murphy opened the scoring with a deflected strike before the interval, but Browning profited from a spill by Matthews to draw the Toffees level until Loza's persistence paid off in the closing stages to seal the victory with a low right-footed strike from the edge of the area that evaded Mason Springthorpe.

• Norwich City Under-21s: Matthews, Barker (Young 70), Toffolo, Hall-Johnson, Gafaiti, McFadden, Norman, Howson (Grant 61), Becchio (Morris 70), Loza, Murphy. Subs (not used): Oxborough, Hodd.

• Goals: Murphy (23), Loza (85)

• Everton Under-21s: Springthorpe, McLaughlin (Toray 45), Garbutt, Ledson, Pennington, Browning, Kennedy, Williams, Hope, McAleny (Walsh 86), Donohue (Charsley 68). Subs (not used): Griffiths, Duffus.

• Goal: Browning (53)

• Referee: N Hair