The Canaries’ number one will be fit for Birmingham City’s Championship visit this weekend, with Long again deputising on cup duty at Craven Cottage.
But head coach David Wagner revealed afterwards the experienced former Millwall stopper had to overcome a stomach complaint.
Long played the full 90 minutes, with Vicente Reyes on standby in the warm up, but travelled home separately to the rest of the group as a precaution.
“George when we arrived at the hotel (on Tuesday night) had some problems with his stomach. He had to be sick,” said Wagner. “He didn’t make it for the morning training session or the meeting. He didn’t sleep a lot on Tuesday night, so I decided he didn’t have to train, just try to get some sleep, try to get some food.
“He made the pre-match walk in the afternoon. And the set piece meeting. His pre-match meal was not the normal pre-match meal. But he was desperate to play.
“It only shows George’s character. Even if he was, for sure, not on his highest energy level. He was so desperate to play and I think he played very well. It’s exactly what this group of characters is all about. The whole group is like him. They suffer for this team, so it is great to have lads like him in our dressing room.”
Long was one of nine changes to the starting line up from the embarrassing 6-2 league defeat at Plymouth, against a strong Premier League outfit.
“What Marco (Silva) did, I couldn’t influence. We decided we will make changes, we would make a lot of changes,” said Wagner. “We wanted to give some young players a chance as well, because they deserved it in training. They are very competitive. If you don’t try them, you don’t know what they’re able to produce.
“A lot of the other players played a lot of minutes in recent weeks. We have a few injury problems, and we can’t afford to get some further.
“We conceded defeat, so it was not a happy night, but the performance was absolutely in place, and this is why I can take this evening and move on. We have high demands and standards on ourselves. Against Birmingham we’d like to come back to our best.”
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