Tom Heaton - Rating

I also caught up with Cardiff keeper Tom Heaton after the game on Saturday. I first met Tom when - as a teenager - he spent a breif spell on loan with Swindon from parent club Manchester United, but after being loaned out to several other clubs on loan he has now thrown his lost in with the Bluebirds - and isn't regretting the decision on little bit.

He told me:
"Manchester United was a great place to learn your trade and the people there helped me a lot, especially Edwin van der Sar who I spoke to recently after he announced he'sd be retiring at the end of the season. He's a really good man. But I'm 24 now and needed to get away for the sake of my career and I couldn't have moved to a better club. The infrastructure here is superb and everyone is pulling in one direction."

I took Tom aback a little when I revealed that I was probably going to award him a 'five' in The Sun ratings until the 91st minute.

"Oh cheers, thanks!" He grinned.

I then explained it was merely because he'd had so little to do up to that point. But then he pulled off an acrobatic save to shut out an 18 yard curler from Scunny substitute Robert Grant and made sure of the win. Those extra two popints could prove invaluable come May and so the rating was upped to a seven.

Tom is a very likeable guy and I hope that he manages to walk out at Old Trafford next season with a newly promoted Cardiff.