Norwich City will revert to friendly fixtures for the second string next season after announcing last night that they were withdrawing from the league.

Norwich City will revert to friendly fixtures for the second string next season after announcing last night that they were withdrawing from the league.

The club say it 'will allow the management team more flexibility to choose when, where and against what opposition' the reserves play. Home matches will be played at Colney.

'Reserve team football is important to us, but leaving the league and arranging our own fixtures will give us a lot more choice about who we play and when we play them,' said manager Paul Lambert.

'We want reserve team games to be of maximum benefit to the squad in terms of first team players who need to get matches under their belt and youngsters coming through from the Academy.'

City's reserves play Peterborough Reserves at Colney this afternoon (2pm).