Town's U18s bounced back from five straight league defeats by beating rivals Norwich City 3-0 at Playford Road on Wednesday afternoon.

After Shak Nicolaou had struck a post midway through the first half, the young Blues took a deserved lead on 43 when Charlie Wood burst through from midfield and finished well.

Within a minute, Sid Eldred (pictured) charged down an attempted clearance from Canaries keeper Henry Bullen and the ball - with assistance from a strong wind - bounced into the empty net.

Bullen made an impressive save to deny Eldred a second 12 minutes after the restart, but he was powerless to keep the Northern Irish U19 international at bay on 68.

Bobby Sains' shot was blocked but the ball fell kindly for Eldred, who produced a clinical finish from close range to seal all three points for Matt Pooley and Jimmy Smith's side against the Canaries, who had former Blues youth coaches Bryan Klug and Adem Atay in their dugout.

Trialist Claudio Nzang, a forward currently with Leyton Orient, who spent time on loan with Northwood earlier in the year, came off the bench in the second half.

U18s: Twyman, Boakye-King, Berkeley-Agyepong, Hammond, Wilkinson, Sains (Pedder 73), Unadike (Nzang 73), Wood, Eldred (Burton-Yurevich 91), Eze, Nicolaou. Unused: Fletcher, Brown.

Photo: Matchday Images