A Terrible Week For Cardiff City's Marshall

Cardiff City had lost consecutive away games prior to this week, and were surely looking forward to facing Millwall and Crystal Palace at home - two games with points on offer.

However, Dave Jones opted to drop former number one David Marshall, ever present in the league, in favour of former Manchester United stopper Tom Heaton. The move suprised many since Marshall had no chance with eitehr goal at Ipswich, or really against Leicester's Andy King - it would have been very cruel to blame him for either defeat.

That said, Marhsall remains hesitant under the high ball while his kicking has been incredibly poor at times this season leading to a number of embarrassing moments for the Scotsman. He was therefore demoted to the bench against Millwall, and would not have been suprised as Lee Naylor's poor defending allowing Lisbie in and Heaton could do nothing to stop Scott Barron's effort.

However, from that moment on - Heaton has been almost flawless. There have been occasional moments of hesitancy within the defence, but his communication has improved dramatically and he is only playing with the likes of Hudson, Gyepes and Naylor for the first time.

Against Crystal Palace, Heaton deservedly picked up the man-of-the-match award after saving his side from defeat. In particular a long range effort was palmed wide, while he pulled off a superb point blank save at the far post - it looked a certain goal.

Heaton now deserved a chance to hold down the number 1 keeper position, and Marshall looks resigned to a bench role for the next few games at least.

To round off a disappointing week for Marshall, he was omitted from yesterday's Scotland squad despite being a regular over the past few months. His ommission from the Bluebirds starting XI will not have helped while Craig Gordon (injury) and Alan MacGregor (disciplinary) have been restored to the Scots squad.

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