Sargent has scored four goals in 14 appearances this season and established himself as first-choice up front in the absence of the experienced Ashley Barnes, who is also out injured.

More positively, Thorup hopes to have midfielder Marcelino Nunez and goalkeeper Angus Gunn fit to return before the end of the month, following the next international break, but the scale of the club’s injury situation has been a concern.

“We brought (Christian) Fassnacht and Tony Springett on to the bench the other day, but they were not available (to play) – that was just to start to integrate them into the team,” Thorup told BBC Radio Norfolk.

“We had 15, 16 outfield players available for minutes (against Cardiff) but one of them was a under-21 player who just came from a Friday night game at Manchester City.

“It’s a crazy situation that we are in, but we deal with it, we support each other and we don’t blame each other.”

Norwich are 10th in the table, three points outside the top six, before Tuesday’s away fixture against Sheffield Wednesday.