Norwich City striker Simeon Jackson admitted it was nice to give manager Chris Hughton a reminder of his goalscoring abilities after his winner against Spurs on Wednesday.

Jackson has had a watching brief from the substitutes' bench since the Canaries' 5-2 defeat to Liverpool but the former Gillingham man was delighted to take his chance after coming off the bench to book a Capital One Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa next month.

The 25-year-old demonstrated the kind of predatory instincts that City have been lacking at times this season and hopes his goal will push him to the forefront of the manager's Premier League thinking.

'Everyone wants to play and I'm no different,' he said. 'To come and get a goal was exactly what I wanted to do.

'Tonight was good and hopefully I can keep that up now. It's always difficult when you don't play. You want to play as much as you can but you have to keep your head right and keep going like everyone here does.

'You know when you do get the chance then you've got to take it.'

Wednesday's win extended the Canaries' run to three games unbeaten and there is a sense of optimism around the club again according to Jackson.

It is often emphasised the cup runs can breed confidence in a squad but the Canada international insists the Premier League must remain the club's main priority this season. Even a cup win at Wembley pales into insignificance compared to continuing to dine at English football's top table.

'We have to concentrate on the league now,' he added. 'It's a nice little good distraction to have but the focus is still on the league. It was a great result against Spurs and we will be looking to put in another good performance against Stoke.

'The last few fixtures have been really tough and we've got some good results. It's good to hit form like we have done – hopefully we can pick up as many points as we can in the next run of games.'

The midweek victory showed the Canaries' perseverance with Hughton's men second best for the majority of the contest. Jackson was impressed with how his team-mates kept going in the second half after Gareth Bale looked to have ended City's cup adventure.

'You expect a team like Spurs to dominate possession and have good chances but I thought we combated that well and had some good spells with the ball ourselves,' he said. 'To come from 1-0 down against a team like Spurs is amazing. The chance to play at Wembley is there for everyone now. It would be great to go back there again with Norwich.'