Milot Rashica believes “every game is like a final” for Norwich after they returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Charlton in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
The Kosovo international scored the only goal of the game in the 79th minute after Charlton had dominated for large parts of the game.
Half-time substitute Rashica, who had played a large part in the Canaries’ improved second-half performance, was alert at the far post to tap home from a Teemu Pukki cross to give the visitors the lead, and score his first goal for the club since his move to Carrow Road in the summer.
“The win – it feels very good to have the win because we didn’t win for a long time and we’re through to the next round so we’re happy for that,” Rashica said.
Rashica’s strike was also Norwich’s first goal since November 30, during a 1-1 draw against fellow relegation strugglers Newcastle, and the midfielder stressed the importance of league points after his side booked their place in the FA Cup fourth round.
“To be honest it doesn’t matter at this point who scores the goals or gets the assists we just need to go in every game – from now on every game is like a final for us and it doesn’t matter who scores or gives assists we just need to win points as much as we can,” he said.
Rashica added: “We know the quality we have and we know the games that are in front of us and we work hard every day.
“I can see from the lads even when we lose we can see that we want to give more and we want to learn from the mistakes so everyone is ready and we know what we expect in the coming weeks so we are just ready to fight for it.”
Charlton manager Johnnie Jackson wants his side to take encouragement from their performance against a Premier League team.
“I think they should feel empowered by that. It was a great test for them to go toe to toe with a team in the Premier League and they’ve done that,” the Addicks boss said.
“Arguably they matched them and more, so we have to take heart from that, we have to take that type of performance forward which we have been doing.
“I was stood here after the last league game a week ago saying the same thing. That we’ve got in the game but couldn’t take our chances and lost 1-0, so I don’t want to keep saying that because that’s no good.
“But I think if we keep playing that way then the results will come.”
