Russell Martin and Robbie Brady have both stepped up their injury comebacks by playing more than an hour for a Norwich City XI in a 3-0 friendly victory over a young Colchester United side.

Summer signing Sergi Canos gave the Canaries the lead in the first half before French attacker Tony Andreu scored twice to make sure of the win.

Spanish winger Canos, a £2.5million signing from Liverpool, scored in the 11th minute following a one-two with Josh Murphy which allowed him to curl the ball into the net from outside the box.

The U's had Canaries academy product Ben Wyatt, a left-back who was part of the FA Youth Cup winning squad in 2013, in their line-up.

Murphy was twice denied by the visiting keeper before the break and also hit the base of the post with a shot after being set up by Kyle Lafferty.

Andreu replaced Murphy in the 55th minute and made it 2-0 seven minutes later, rolling home after Canos saw his shot blocked from a Ben Godfrey cross.

City skipper Martin, recovering from a back spasm which disrupted his pre-season, was replaced by Michael Turner in the 63rd minute – with Harry Toffolo also coming on for Brady and Carlton Morris replacing Lafferty up front.

Brady is still searching for full fitness after returning to training with a calf problem following his Euro 2016 exploits in France with the Republic of Ireland.

Lafferty also played at the tournament with Northern Ireland and was widely expected to finish his frustrating time with City this summer, but was an unused substitute for the first team during the 4-1 win at Blackburn on Saturday and was regularly involved during pre-season.

Andreu then scored his second in the 86th minute, benefitting from more good play from Canos, finishing calmly after a chipped pass from the Spaniard to make the final score 3-0.

The players involved will now hope to be involved in City's first Championship home game of the season against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (5.30pm kick-off).

If not then City's under-23s start their Premier League Two season next Monday, with their Division Two opener against Newcastle scheduled for 2pm at Colney, which could offer further game-time.

Norwich City XI: Michael McGovern; Ben Godfrey, Russell Martin (C – Turner 63), Sebastien Bassong, Robbie Brady (Harry Toffolo 63); Sergi Canos, Youssouf Mulumbu, Louis Thompson, Josh Murphy (Tony Andreu 55); James Maddison; Kyle Lafferty (Carlton Morris 63). Unused subs: Paul Jones (GK), Todd Cantwell.