CHRIS LAKEY Nigel Worthington has his strikers firing on all cylinders in the early stages of his preparations for the new season. Now he wants the rest of the team to join in.

CHRIS LAKEY

Nigel Worthington has his strikers firing on all cylinders in the early stages of his preparations for the new season. Now he wants the rest of the team to join in.

The Canaries boss saw his team win their second pre-season game in three days when they won 3-1 at Cambridge United.

Peter Thorne - with his third goal in two games - Ian Henderson and Leon McKenzie were on target and, with Ryan Jarvis and Darren Huckerby having scored at Fakenham, it means only Robert Earnshaw and Paul McVeigh, of the usual suspects, have yet to score.Earnshaw has mitigating circumstances in that he has played just 45 minutes of pre-season, while McVeigh has made meaningful contributions in both games. But Worthington is keen to see the scoring touch shared around.

“I am pleased we are scoring goals. No matter who you are playing, Fakenham or Cambridge, they are different tests. But you have still got to stick the ball in the back of the net and to have different people score is something that we didn't have enough of last year,” said Worthington. “What we need now is for midfielders and defenders to join in with that and try to add to the tally.”

Worthington takes his team to Scotland today for matches against Livingston tomorrow and Falkirk on Saturday, and he says all the shirts for day one at Leeds on August 5 are up for grabs.

“There is three weeks to go, there is still a bit of time, and everybody is playing for the first XI shirt and at the minute it is going to be difficult because everybody is working very hard,” he said. “But decisions will have to be made and hopefully we can pick the right team to go to Elland Road and get the right result.”

There's no doubt that preparations will be more difficult north of the border, but Worthington is happy with the way the players eased past their second test in difficult conditions.

“It was an excellent workout, very, very good for the fitness in the hot conditions,” he said. “It could be like this on August 5 at Elland Road so it was a great exercise. Again, we put a different team out either half, with some youngsters in there and it has been very good, a lot of things we are working on in training we can see coming through, and there are other little bits that we need to keep working on. I am very pleased, take apart the result, with the players' commitment and the work and the way they are trying to do things that we ask them in training.

“I thought we started the game very well in the first half and then they got a penalty, but it was good to see the reaction and we kept our nerve, we kept trying to pass the ball and to get into wide areas to get crosses in. So I was pleased with the response to that and we got back into the game, which is always nice before half-time, and then we have gone on and finished the job off as far as the result is concerned.

“But the work and the things we have been working on in training, they are starting to show through in the games which we are very, very pleased with.”