Josh Sargent's injury absence is being felt by Norwich City as the mission to replace him continues. 

The American is set to miss the next two months of action owing to groin surgery that took place on Monday, with Emiliano Marcondes chosen to lead the line in Saturday's home defeat to Bristol City. 

Sargent's presence, energy and quality makes his injury one of the most damning fitness blows for Johannes Hoff Thorup's side, who have looked toothless without him spearheading their attacking phases of play. 

Kellen Fisher has admitted that Sargent's absence is being felt by City, but is confident Marcondes and Ante Crnac can keep them scoring during his period of unavailability. 

"Everyone knows that Sarge is a great player. He is so important to us. We've got good replacements in Emi [Marcondes] and Ante [Crnac] who have replaced him," Fisher said. 

"We've got enough players out there to compete, but he's a massive miss. It's a credit to Bristol City; they shut down everything possibility we had of going forward. 

"Every game that we've played, we've looked threatening going forward - it's just today where that hasn't been the case, so it's something to look at." 

For City, the November international break has proven timely as they bid to get key players back to full fitness and find solutions at the top end of the pitch to ease the goal-scoring burden on Borja Sainz. 

Fisher believes improvement after the fortnight pause will only emerge from a period of hard work to turn their fortunes around. 

Kellen Fisher believes hard work is the key to improvement after Norwich City's slump in form.Kellen Fisher believes hard work is the key to improvement after Norwich City's slump in form. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd) "You'd rather go into it like we did last time with a 4-0 win over Hull. It's easier to go into it with wins. It's going to play in our heads over the next couple of days. It's massive for us to reset and go again on the training ground. 

"It starts on the training ground. A lot of analysis will go into it off the pitch, and it's about working hard on the pitch," the England U20 international said. 

"We've got to show that we're a good team, and we are a very good team, but it's just about getting that mojo back."