HULL MAN MARSHALL LOOKS BACK AT HIS NOU CAMP COMING OF AGE
REMINDERS of his busiest days in football have come rushing back to goalkeeper David Marshall.
The Scotland No1 is back in England’s top flight after signing for Hull City in a £5million deal. Marshall’s last time in the Premier League was a hectic season with Cardiff three years ago in which he made 153 saves.
Celtic supporters might wonder what the big deal is about that figure. Surely it felt like the goalkeeper produced that many stops in just one match at the Nou Camp in March 2004? Memories of that night have been stirred by the Hoops’ Champions League draw.
‘It takes me back every time I see them drawn against Barcelona,’ says Marshall. ‘It seems to keep happening every couple of years. It was a great experience and seems a long time ago now. But I’m glad it was that team we faced rather than the one Celtic are going to play on Tuesday.’
Marshall was 19 when thrust into the limelight to deputise for the suspended Rab Douglas, keeping a clean sheet against all the odds as Martin O’Neill’s Celtic eliminated the mighty Barcelona from the UEFA Cup.
‘If I hadn’t played that game I’d maybe have been seen as only doing it in Scotland, whereas I feel as if that gave me the opportunity to get down south,’ Marshall said. ‘There was no playing it out from the back that night, that’s for sure!’
Hull boss Mike Phelan will have been impressed by Marshall’s previous Premier League stats. He made more saves than any top-flight keeper in 2013/14, from just 29 appearances.
This was not, however, enough to spare Cardiff at the close of a tumultuous season. Yet it was the year in which Marshall stamped his reputation as a top-class custodian. A string of world-class performances established himself as Gordon Strachan’s preferred pick for Scotland.
‘I felt I’d been consistent since going down to England but people judge you on where you are playing all the time,’ he explained.
‘You don’t know if you can handle it at that level until you get the chance. Me playing well in the Premier League last time was a confidence booster and it helped me get in the Scotland squad as well. But that’s gone now and I need to go and produce again.’
The 31-year-old appears to have signed up for another scrap at the foot of the division, with Hull odds-on to sink straight back to the Championship. However, they defied expectations to beat champions Leicester on the opening day, defeated Swansea the following week, lasted 91 minutes before wilting to Manchester United and drew at Burnley yesterday.
‘I hope this is a more positive season than the Cardiff one,’ Marshall said. ‘We played really poorly at Cardiff, so I was going to have to make a lot of saves.
‘I tasted it (Premier League football) with Cardiff and I enjoyed it. This is the first year I’ve had the choice, really, to play in the Premier League again. They’ve obviously started well and there’s a good camaraderie so it’s good for me coming into that.’