Pilkington bright on Blue day

Norwich 1 Chelsea 3

Pilkington is in the 23-man squad that will take part in the Group C World Cup Qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan later this month — along with team-mate Wes Hoolahan — and Hughton is confident that his midfielder is one of a handful of players who are about to enjoy a spell in the evolving side.

Interim boss Noel King named Pilkington in his initial 26-man side even before an impressive match against Jose Mourinho’s team in which he scored a 68th minute equaliser, after Oscar gave the visitors the lead inside four minutes, and Hughton is confident his ambidextrous playmaker will not disappoint.

Hughton said: “He’s earned the opportunity. With the Irish team I think they are going through a bit of a transitional period with a number of players coming to the end of their careers and I hope that he can benefit from that.

“He’s been in and around it but he has had to pull out of a few squads. I think he will benefit from being around players at international level. They certainly have a tough game coming up.

“If you look at what he has done for us, it has been predominantly been on the left side but he can play on the right.”

Pilkington’s close-range finish, after good build-up play from Martin Olsson and Ricky van Wolfswinkel, looked like it would spark Norwich to life after a dour opening hour in which both teams appeared tentative.

However, Jose Mourinho made changes to both personnel and formation after Norwich forced their way back in the game; Eden Hazard, Willian and Samuel Eto’o all entered the fray and a 3-4-3 formation was employed in a bid to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat — and it worked.

“Substitutes are very important if they come in well,” a proud Mourinho said. “I know how football is. If they come in and change the game, the manager did very well. If they come in and make it worse then the manager made a very bad decision. So in the end I always think it is their responsibility. The situation became difficult at 1-1. We all knew a point here would be a bad result for us but I think the team — not just the boys that came on but the ones who stayed on the pitch — coped well with that pressure.

“During the game I’m not nervous but I have feelings. I smell things. And when I saw that easy goal was missed, I had a smell.

“I smelt that they would score a goal, that’s why I had Eden warming up even with the 1-0 result. Because I was smelling. We could win, we could lose because at that moment we didn’t want the point.

“We played with three guys at the back, which opened up to put Eden central. We lost a bit of balance to try to gamble and to create. We left the road a bit open for them too and if they score a second goal then, probably, we lose. But we are trying to be top so after one point at Tottenham, one point here today would be a bad result for us, so we tried to win.”

Norwich’s endeavour and work rate was almost the undoing of a Chelsea side that has its foundations built on intricate passing and guile — it was a clash of cultures at times but Mourinho insists that he is not about to change the essence of his side for anyone.

“You could feel the crowd was waiting for moments of emotion. They were winning a corner and the emotion was coming into the game. They were putting a long ball in the box to Wolfswinkel and you heard the noise to press for the second ball and for the second and the third man to arrive in the box. I think that if you try to play like other people do and you have no players for that, you are very stupid. I won the league in Spain with 100 points and my team was not playing like Barcelona were playing. If you try to play like somebody else does, you never reach their level so you have to try to be the best in the style that is adapted to the qualities of your players.

“So we have to play in relation to the qualities we have and sometimes public opinion goes in directions — ‘Oh, this team plays very well, we should all play like this team’.

For what? Don’t try to be clever because you become stupid.”

NORWICH: Ruddy 6, Martin 7, Turner 6, Bassong 6, Olsson 6, Snodgrass 6 (Redmond 6, 81), Howson 6, Fer 7, Tettey 6, Pilkington 6, van Wolfswinkel 6 (Hooper 73, 5).

CHELSEA: Cech 6, Ivanovic 6, Luiz 6, Terry 7, Cole 6 (Hazard 79, 7), Ramires 6, Lampard 7, Mata 6 (Willian 8, 81), Oscar 8, Schurrle 6, Ba 6 (Eto’o 73, 4).

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).