AUDIO: Norwich City midfielder David Fox admits there is cut throat competition to hold down a starting spot in Paul Lambert’s upwardly-mobile outfit.

Fox’s eight-game unbroken run at the heart of the Canaries’ midfield ended when he was forced off with a calf injury in the thrilling recent home league win over Sheffield United.

The 27-year-old missed the follow up victory over leaders QPR and the battling draw at Middlesbrough, but was ready to return to the fray for this afternoon’s FA Cup third round tie against Orient.

“When you are in the side the last thing you want to do is miss games,” he said. “I was gutted about missing them because when you are in the team and then you get injured you don’t know how long it will be before you get back into it. When you get a run of games that is last thing you want to do, especially with the results because the confidence is sky high and you want to be playing every week.

“I trained the last couple of days and I feel fine. It was just a bit of a calf strain and it was one of those for the two recent games when I felt I could possibly be okay, but with them coming so close together I think its not worth risking it and perhaps being out for a couple of months. That wouldn’t be the way to go.”

Fox insisted the FA Cup still retains a mystical air for him, ahead of Orient’s Carrow Road visit.

“I always watch the third round draw because you just don’t know who you are going to get,” he said. “It’s still exciting for me and it still has a lot of romance as a competition. You look at Portsmouth winning it recently and you never know what can happen. I’m not going to say we can win it but there will be a few shocks along the way and hopefully we are not involved in one.

“I think Norwich, funnily enough, was the furthest I have been in the cup when we were at Blackpool and we lost in extra time when we could have gone to Chelsea in the next round. I got beat at Torquay in the third round, which was a big upset, when I was in the Championship at Blackpool. It’s those sorts of experiences that you take with you and hope you don’t feel again.”

Fox dismisses suggestions cup football is an unwanted distraction to City’s gathering promotion push.

“I guess it’s a distraction in some ways but a welcome one for the boys and a chance for us to express ourselves,” he said. “When you get into a run of results and you are doing well you just want to keep going and you don’t really care what the competition is. You go into games thinking you are going to win them.

“Who knows where a cup run can take you. An away trip to Old Trafford would be nice and the fans would enjoy that but you just never know.”