Head coach Paul Trollope believes Cardiff City are moving in the right direction despite suffering a third Championship defeat of the season at Carrow Road.

The Bluebirds impressed for large spells against Norwich City but still lost 3-2 and have now won just once in six Championship outings so far. However, the former Canaries first-team coach remains confident the results will start to come if his players continue to buy into his philosophy.

He said: 'I don't want it (play well and not win) to be a pattern that's emerging. We can say the same from a few of the games that we've played.

'That's the message to the players. We are still putting building blocks in place about how we play and what we're trying to do. Having Rickie Lambert at the top of the team helped in a number of ways. He was a handful and probably should have got a goal or two. But there were large positives to take.

'Sometimes as a manager or a coach, saying there's lots of positives to take in a defeat is an easy thing to do and sometimes you get hammered for it. But I believe in what we're doing and how we're working.'

Trollope was disappointed with the first two goals his side conceded but is adamant that the outcome may have been different had City's third, after Anthony Pilkington had reduced the arrears from close range, not materialised thanks to a foul in the build-up.

'He (Jonny Howson) pulled him (Aron Gunnarsson) to the floor,' said Trollope of the key moments before Josh Murphy's decisive strike.

'It was a definite foul. The flow of the game was hugely in our favour. We'd pinned them back and were peppering the box. For that to happen was disappointing. But that doesn't excuse the two goals previous that put us 2-0 down.'

Former Canary Pilkington, playing as a striker alongside Lambert, completed his brace in time added on.