Cardiff City's Marshall vs Bristol City's Heaton

Cardiff City face rivals Bristol City on Saturday with goalkeeper David Marshall also set to go head-to-head with a former colleague and rival for the number one jersey with ex-Bluebird Tom Heaton likely to start for the Robins.

Heaton departed Cardiff City over the summer, despite being offered a new deal as the ex-Manchester United man was desperate for first team football. He showed impressive form last season, and was unlucky to find himself behind Marshall and his appearances were limited to just 2 league outings. He played every minute of our Carling Cup riun, and in the FA Cup defeat to West Brom but it wasn't enough for Heaton who understandably opted to move on.

There's not much to choose between the two men, though Marhshall is more experienced at this level, and both are high quality goalkeepers at Championship level. Both men are most adept at shot-stopping, and show some weakness with positioning under the high ball. On their day, both goalkeepers are very very difficult to beat and Bluebirds fans have seen both men enjoy some spectacular performances over the years.

Just a week into the new season, the two former team-mates look set to face one another after Heaton replaced David James in the BCFC starting XI ahead of number two Dean Gerken. Heaton has yet to keep a clean sheet for his new club, while Marhsall has yet to concede so both will have very good reasons, more than usual, to want to avoid conceding any goals.

This will be a tough game for Cardiff City, way from home and against a resurgent Bristol City. We have only scored one league goal so far this campaign, but can hopefully beat Heaton and come away with the points. His last game for the Bluebirds was against Liverpool, and Craig Bellamy where his penalty heroics very nearly helped City to an unlikely win. No heroics on Saturdsay please Heaton!

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