Ryan Bennett impressed with Norwich City team mate James Vaughan

11:52 30 July 2012

David Cuffley

Vaughan struck with a clinical finish five minutes from time to wrap up the Canaries’ 2-0 friendly win over Peterborough United at London Road on Saturday, after Steve Morison had given them an interval lead.

After an injury-wrecked first season with the club, in which he made just six first team appearances, the former Everton forward has scored three goals in City’s first three warm-up games, kicking off with a double in the 3-2 defeat by Hertha Berlin in Austria.

“He’s one of the most determined players I’ve seen,” said team-mate Ryan Bennett, who played the whole of the second half against former club Posh.

“I’ve been impressed with him since I came in. Everyone knows the ability he’s got.

“He’s been unfortunate with the injuries he’s picked up along the way but I’m sure once he has a good run and gets a lot of training under his belt, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League.”

Manager Chris Hughton has also been quietly impressed with 24-year-old Vaughan’s appetite for the game in the three weeks since City returned to training.

As one of eight substitutes introduced after 70 minutes against Posh, he looked sharp and took his goal – from Grant Holt’s excellent pass – with some style.

“We made an awful lot of changes in the last 20 minutes. We hoped to bring them on a little bit before that, but it’s sometimes hard to get into your stride,” said Hughton.

“At this stage of the game, the last thing you want as a defender is a striker that is going to come on, playing on your shoulder who has a little bit of pace to get on beyond you, so yes, it was a good time to bring him and we benefited from it.”

Hughton has adopted different systems at different stages of City’s games so far, using three strikers in the second half of the 1-0 win at Celtic and for most of the game at London Road. But he said there was no special significance in the formation – it was more a case of getting everyone time on the pitch.

“At the moment I’ve got five strikers and as opposed to playing two strikers and leaving one out, what I prefer at this stage is to make sure everybody is getting the right amount of minutes they will need in this pre-season period. It’s a question of getting a feel for the players and adapting to what I’ve got.”