Norwich boss Paul Lambert today challenged David Fox to establish himself in the Canaries first team.

The former Man United trainee made his first league start since the opening night of the Championship campaign in last week’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.

Lambert admitted the cultured midfielder is now vying to keep his place alongside the combative Andrew Crofts ahead of Saturday’s test at title contenders Cardiff.

“He did great, both him and Macca (Anthony McNamee),” said Lambert. “As a manager if you can get lads you can trust that is the easy part. I know what they will give what they have and that is vital to me.”

Lambert reported no fresh injury concerns at his pre-match press conference on Friday morning and confirmed midfielder Matty Gill is back in the fold after his month long loan spell at Peterborough.

“Matty is back,” said Lambert. “We don’t have an overly big squad as such so I’m sure the game time will have done him the world of good.”

Lambert revealed earlier this week Andrew Surman (knee) is poised to begin his road to recovery by starting to run again next month. Michael Nelson (ankle) and Zak Whitbread (calf) are back in light training and defender Adam Drury is three to four weeks away from a competitive return.