Norwich City's young guns have provided a silver lining to a sour few days for Neil Adams following the Canaries' Championship hammering at Middlesbrough.

Jacob Murphy marked his first start in the Championship with a goal on his loan debut for Blackpool in the Seasiders' battling 2-2 draw at Fulham on Wednesday. Fellow FA Youth Cup winner Harry Toffolo also made his full Football League debut in Swindon's 1-0 League One success over Preston and Cameron King's impressive form at development level has earned him a maiden Scottish Under-21 call-up for a Switzerland friendly later this month.

Adams welcomed a series of good news stories after Teesside trip to forget which left City four points adrift of Boro, who moved joint-top alongside Bournemouth.

'I was really pleased for Jacob to score a goal (the other night) and have a big impact in the general game. It was a shame they didn't win but of course you can imagine he will be buzzing now with his first senior goal at Championship level,' said Adams. 'Harry Toffolo is another one. He is not just there at Swindon to be part of the group, he has got on and he started as well.

'They need to be involved when we send them out. That is the key. There is a couple of times we have had players out on loan who weren't really used and when we sit down and look to place these boys I think the key part of that is they get the opportunity to play, which was why I was happy to see Jacob not just play but to start the game.'

Adams gave fellow academy product King his senior debut earlier this season in the Capital One Cup defeat at Shrewsbury and the City chief expects big things.

'He is an excellent player,' he said. 'He was really unlucky last season with injuries that halted his progress but I think everyone saw in the televised development game against Tottenham here recently just what he can do. He has all the talent and all the potential and he is one we have high hopes for.'