Stephen Caulker's Cardiff debut gets David Marshall approval

Stephen Caulker got the thumbs up from team-mate David Marshal after making his Cardiff City debut in the 1-0 friendly win over Chievo Verona.

The record signing from Tottenham, who joined for a fee in excess of £8m, came off the bench for the final 30 minutes.

Goalkeeper Marshall was impressed with the centre-back's Bluebirds bow.

"He's a fantastic signing, it was maybe a bit of a surprise but very good for the club to get someone in of that experience and level," Marshall said.

"One of our main strengths last year was our two centre-halves, so to have another one in there can only make everybody better and it gives us more options.

"It'll be interesting to see who starts but it's been really good to get him in."

Caulker came on in place of captain Mark Hudson, partnering Ben Turner at the heart of Cardiff's defence as the hosts held on to the advantage claimed by Kim Bo-Kyung's opportunistic goal.

The home side were given a thorough work-out by their Italian Serie A opponents and Marshall believes it was an ideal test to sharpen them for their Premier League debut.

Cardiff have one more pre-season game against Spanish Primera Liga side Athletic Bilbao before starting their league season at West Ham United on 17 August.

"Chievo weren't a typical Italian side, didn't give us a minute and were pressing us from the first minute," Marshall said.

"So it was a good work-out that way. Sometimes you get pre-season games that just tick over and it's just a non-event, but that was good - obviously good to get a win and a clean sheet as well.

"These two games are a step up in class and the boys have been getting their sharpness the last three or four weeks."