Norwich captain Jason Shackell is targeting a swift return from his ankle injury. Shackell was quick to allay initial fears he was set for a long spell on the sidelines after picking up a similar injury to midfield duo Jimmy Smith and Mark Fotheringham.

Norwich captain Jason Shackell is targeting a swift return from his ankle injury.

Shackell was quick to allay initial fears he was set for a long spell on the sidelines after picking up a similar injury to midfield duo Jimmy Smith and Mark Fotheringham.

The 23-year-old is back in light training after missing the club's Championship defeat to Cardiff with ankle ligament damage suffered in the Carling Cup win at Rochdale.

Shackell is now focussed on spearheading City's Championship charge after the international break.

“Yeah, it's not too bad,” he said. “I've had a bit of work done on it and a little injection and that, and it's coming along okay. I've just got to see how it goes the next few days and fingers crossed I'm back in training sooner rather than later. It's not hindering me a lot either. I'm slowly progressing and I'm just desperate to get back in training.”

The previously ever-present Shackell admitted he was a frustrated spectator at Carrow Road watching Roger Johnson pinch all three points for Cardiff.

“Like every professional footballer you just want to be out there playing on the pitch,” he said. “Whether it's one game or ten games, you don't want to miss any. Obviously, I personally didn't enjoy watching Cardiff - I wanted to be out there with the boys. But I thought they played quite well to be fair and I thought we were unlucky. Now we've just got to get our heads down over the next couple of weeks and make sure we are ready to go for Palace.”

Shackell remains upbeat ahead of City's next Championship against Crystal Palace at Carrow Road this weekend.

“We've had a couple of not great results,” he said. “We know we can perform a lot better than we are doing. But it's always good to look at the positives. We are still in the cup and we've had some half decent results when we know we've not been playing well. So we will get our heads down again and get ready for a big push after the break.”

City youngster and Republic of Ireland U19 skipper Michael Spillane was on target for his country in their 3-1 friendly defeat to Portugal U19s at Drogheda.

Spillane headed his country in front but the Portuguese hit back with three goals in the space of 11 second half minutes.

The friendly was a warm up ahead of their UEFA U19 championship qualifier in Portugal later this year. Belarus and Andorra complete the four-team group with only the top two advancing to the elite stages.