Ahead of their U21 Premier League Cup clash with Norwich City on Thursday night, Saints Under-21 boss Martin Hunter hopes good preparation will prove to be key as his side aim for the quarter-finals.

Hunter’s youngsters saw off the challenge of Fulham on Monday night as goals from Jason McCarthy and Bevis Mugabi handed them a 2-1 victory away from home.

Hunter believes the experience of dealing with a testing fixture schedule will aid his charges in the long run as they look to make it back-to-back wins inside four days.

“We trained well on Wednesday, they’ll be fully recovered by the time of the game but we’ve been very careful with the amount of work we’ve done,” Hunter told Southampton's official YouTube channel.

“It’s ideal, playing two games a week, not every week, but it gives the players a flavour of what they’re going to come up with, or what they’re going to come against when they become senior players. It’s all good experience for them.”

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At Fulham on Monday night, Hunter’s side were made to show their resolve in the second half as they fought hard to seal the win, but he was pleased to see them start the game as brightly as they did.

The Under-21s boss will be asking for more of the same when Norwich visit St Mary’s on Thursday, and having played them once already this season, he knows exactly what sort of test they will face.

“We’ve debriefed the game. It was a very difficult second half. We defended in numbers, very, very well, very maturely, that was pleasing,” he said.

“You can’t always play the way you want to play, particularly away from home. We started the game really well, got two early goals and then they got ahead of steam after the goal they scored, and it was backs to the wall sometimes in the second half.

“Having said that, Will (Britt) only had a couple of half-saves to make, rather than full-blooded, so that’s testament to all the players that played and the substitutes that came on as well.

“It’s always very important to start games in a strong vein, with lots of energy – that’s how we like to start all our games. It gives you a platform then to build on,” continued Hunter, who had one game in temporary charge at Carrow Road back in 2006.

“It’s very, very difficult if you start slowly and you’re having to defend. It’s much better to be on the front foot. We’ve obviously played them once before. They’re well organised, they play in a very similar fashion to us, they can be direct at times, we’ve done some work on that, so it’s a different challenge.

“It’s at the stadium, which is important for their development, understanding how to play in a Premier League stadium, so we’ll prepare thoroughly like we always do.”

Saints will have winger Jake Sinclair available on Thursday after he returned from his loan spell at Hibernian, while there was some welcome news about Cody Cropper, who came off injured on Monday night, and Omar Rowe.

“Jake (Sinclair)’s back in the squad,” he confirmed. “Omar is doing really well, he’s back on the pitches. He’ll still be some time before he’s fully back in the squad and match-fit.

“I spoke to Cody – he’s on the mend. He’s got quite a heavy concussion and he’ll be back in the frame in the next few weeks.”



