The 20-year-old notched his fifth Championship goal of the season to seal a 2-0 Carrow Road win against Birmingham, after starting in an unaccustomed central role as chief support to Adam Idah.
City head to Swansea on Wednesday as the division’s top scorers, despite Sargent (ankle) and Barnes (knee) being sidelined for the past few weeks.
Head coach David Wagner also has South Korean international forward Hwang Ui-Jo to add to his attacking mix.
“We look like we can score from a lot of different positions, which is great,” he said. “We are without our top strikers for a few weeks already, and for another few weeks, or months as well. For this, we have to find solutions. And we are on the way to it. We found some of them already, but we have to continue.
“Before the (Birmingham) game I called Jonny and Farsi (Christian Fassnacht) into my office and said, ‘Listen, I know that both of you can play as a striker.’ I’ve seen it from Farsi in Switzerland, when I worked with him at Young Boys, and Jonny Rowe has done it in the pre-season as well.
“It’s clear and obvious that we have some problems on the striker positions with the injuries, and Ui-Jo and Adam Idah will not play every game from the start for 90 minutes. This is impossible, so we have to support them.
“So I said, ‘You two guys can play the second striker position, one plays wide the other plays the second striker, because you are capable of doing it.’ Both did great. Jonny a little bit more centrally than Farsi, but both are able to support Adam and Ui-Jo so they can be as fresh as possible with so many games.”
Youngster Tony Springett was tried in that second striker role in the recent League Cup exit at Fulham, but Wagner is tipping Nottingham Forest loanee Hwang to push his claims.
“He’s a very smart guy,” said Wagner. “He is desperate to improve and to learn. He is now with us only for two weeks or so. Everything must go quicker now for him than we first thought, with the striker injuries. With Barnsey and Josh missing we have to be creative. Ui-Jo is one of the options. He made an impact when he came on (against Birmingham). He looked dangerous and very energetic.
“The understanding for our defensive shape, I think, he has, but, offensively is maybe the one where I can say we have to work with him. He can’t be on the same mindset, like the other players, in terms of the structure of how we like to attack in such a short period.”
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