Two games in three days proved too much for Norwich City Under-23s but Jon Rowe was on target again during a 3-2 loss away to Middlesbrough this afternoon.

The young Canaries were on a four-game unbeaten run after a 1-1 draw with Charlton at Colney on Friday night in the group stages of the Premier League Cup.

Senior full-back Sam Byram had played the first half of that game as he stepped up his return from injury but didn't travel to the north-east for the Premier League Two fixture.

The hosts moved off the bottom of the Division Two table with the win, leaving Alan Neilson's team seventh in the 14-team league, with 17 points from 12 games.

Centre-back Jonathan Tomkinson and midfielder Regan Riley returned from injury, and forward Abu Kamara rejoined his U23 team-mates after training with the first team last week.

Played at Bishop Auckland FC, Boro had taken the lead just before the break and doubled their lead in the 66th minute, only for top scorer Tom Dickson-Peters to halve the deficit six minutes later to take his tally for the season to 12 goals in 15 games.

The hosts scored the crucial goal in the 83rd though so when Dickson-Peters teed up Jon Rowe in injury-time, it was just a consolation, with the skilful attacker notching his seventh of the season and his third in three games.

Next up for the U23s is Wolves in Kidderminster on Monday, November 29.

City U23s (4-3-1-2): Berry; Giurgi (Clarke 78), Tomkinson (C), Warner, Earley; Riley (Shipley 46), Gibbs (Khumbeni 70), Springett; Kamara; Dickson-Peters, Rowe. Unused subs: St Paul (GK), Hutchinson

Goals: Dickson-Peters (72), Rowe (90+3)