Norwich academy chief Ricky Martin praised his side's ruthless streak after brushing aside Oldham tonight to reach the FA Youth Cup fourth round at Carrow Road.

City's under 18s had too much class and guile for the visitors with Jamar Loza and Reece Hall-Johnson grabbing a brace apiece along with a thumping header from centre back Harry Barker. Martin's squad can now look forward to Friday's draw with plenty of optimism.

'Overall I was very pleased and it means we are in this competition now after Christmas. That was the ultimate goal – to be in the draw on Friday,' he said. 'It's just nice to be in the cup, but with regard to the draw it would be nice to be at home so the lads can play in their home stadium again. Not all the clubs support the FA Youth Cup in the same way. Some of the bigger clubs play at non league grounds; we played at Everton a few years ago and that was potentially a big game just before the quarter-final and it was at a non league ground. That is not maybe right, so it's great to be at home where the club fully support it. It's all about giving them experience and making them comfortable in those surroundings.'

The young Canaries started strongly with Hall-Johnson's early strike quelling any potential onslaught from the Latics before Barker's glancing header was the precursor to a three goal burst just after half-time.

'It was important to get a good start and we went 1-0 up early and that knocks them,' said Martin. 'They are probably looking to come at us in those first ten or 15 minutes. They've done brilliantly to get this far and they are a competitive team. They definitely wanted to try and knock us out and we had to stand up and be counted. I would've liked a third before half-time so I said to the lads we had to finish it off. I gave them a target and they did brilliantly.'

City were always in control after Hall-Johnson held off Alex Parkes to slide past Luke Simpson inside the opening ten minutes. The overworked Athletic keeper went full left to deny Sam Kelly before clawing away Dean Florence's drilled strike, but Simpson had no chance with Barker's accurate near post header on 25 minutes.

Loza effectively put the tie beyond doubt with a precise volley into the bottom corner on 48 minutes from Harry Toffolo's initial cross. Parkes hauled down Loza minutes later and City's number nine thumped the penalty down the middle. Hall-Johnson slotted his second to complete the rout a minute later with a clinical angled finish from Jacob Murphy's pass.

• Norwich: Matthews, Norman (Jones 53), Toffolo, Clunan, Barker, McKenzie, Hall-Johnson, Florence (Dobbs 67), Loza, Kelly, Jacob Murphy (Joshua Murphy 76). Subs (not used): Cable, McFadden.

• Goals: Hall-Johnson (7, 53) Barker (25), Loza (48, 52)

• Oldham Athletic: Simpson, Jones, Cooper, Parkes, Belezika, Poxon (Wandless 75), Sutherland (McIntosh 75), Fitzgerald, Riley, Laird, Gosset (Kinder 63). Subs (not used): Coleman, Edwards.

• Bookings: Parkes, Jones, Riley

• Referee: A Dale