Allan McGregor has put his international ambitions on hold to focus on Cardiff City.
Edinburgh-born McGregor would love to play for Scotland again and their next fixture is a World Cup qualifier against Slovenia at home in March, but right now it’s all about the Bluebirds.
McGregor, 35, says: “My priority has to be Cardiff City and helping them club the Championship table. All my thoughts are on getting back to my best and playing consistently well.
“We are going in the right direction with three wins in the last five fixtures and the boys played really well against Preston North End.
“It was great to see the way we played and the work put in by every players out there was brilliant.”
McGregor kept a clean sheet in Cardiff’s 2-0 win against Preston, his fourth appearance for City, and said: “Sol Bamba and Sean Morrison in front of me were excellent. They have such a big presence, playing a leading role in keeping everything organised and are such an effective pairing.
“We were all disappointed in our results against Brighton (0-1) and Reading (1-2), but we also felt the team performances were good and we created chances.
“Our job is to take the positive form we have had into Saturday’s home match against Norwich City. They are an extremely good team and should be higher in the table than they area.
“It is going to be a tough fixture for us, but we look forward to the challenge.”
McGregor has joined Cardiff on loan from Hull City until the end of this season, leaving former Bluebirds number one David Marshall to battle it out with Swiss keeper Eldin Jakupovic for the starting place at the Premier League club.
“I spoke to David Marshall briefly before I joined Cardiff, but the move haleness so quickly,” says McGregor. “He told me about the area and said the club is really good.”
Marshall and Craig Gordon are McGregor’s main rivals when it comes to Scotland selection and playing regularly for the Bluebirds can only enhance his hopes of adding to his 35 senior caps.
McGregor is preparing for Saturday’s clash with Norwich at Cardiff City Stadium, while the Bluebirds then have back-to-back away fixtures at Leeds United and Derby County.
City will again be without injured players Bruno Manga, Rickie Lambert, Anthony Pilkington and Joe Bennett against Norwich, while Lee Peltier is ruled out for three months after being taken off against Preston.
Matt Connolly is likely to take over from Peltier.
“Norwich will be another tough game on the weekend, but we need to stay strong here at home,” says City midfield player Aron Gunnarsson after the 2-0 home win against Preston.
“Our home form is picking up and hopefully we can keep that run going on Saturday.”
“It felt comfortable. A clean sheet at home is extremely important for us and the three points obviously takes us further away from the danger zone.
“It was a really good performance.
“We wanted to get the confidence back and we have; that allows us to start looking up the table.”
Possible Bluebirds line-up v Norwich: McGregor, Connolly, Bamba, Morrison (capt), Richards, Ralls, Whittingham, Hoilett, Harris, Gunnarsson, Zohore.