Dion raring to go

Veteran striker Dion Dublin insists there is plenty of life left in the old legs and will be ready and waiting to be called upon by manager Peter Grant.

Veteran striker Dion Dublin insists there is plenty of life left in the old legs and will be ready and waiting to be called upon by manager Peter Grant.

The 38-year-old made a cameo appearance in the defeat to West Ham but revealed that he feels more than ready if manager Peter Grant decides to start him against Preston in the first league game of the season.

“I feel good and ready to go,” he said. “The manager has got decisions to make and I will be fit and ready to go if called upon.”

Dublin is pleased with how the City squad are shaping up after the “disappointing” departures of Robert Earnshaw and Dickson Etuhu and thinks that Grant has bought well in the transfer market.

“I think it's great for the manager to have so many options,” he said. “He's got five centre forwards, six if you count me. He's got four centre halves, he's got 85 midfield players but it's great - what a great position to be in for the manager. He's bought quality as well.

“I think we've let a lot of quality go, which I'm disappointed about. We've let part of our backbone go but he's brought in decent quality as well. Whether they can fill the shoes of what's gone, only time will tell.”

Dublin was particularly impressed with the performance of David Marshall against West Ham with the summer signing from Celtic showing just why the management team worked so hard to bring him back to Carrow Road.

Marshall pulled off three wonderful saves in the space of six first half minutes and Dublin lavished praise on the 21-year-old for keeping the Hammers at bay.

“I thought he should have held the first one,” joked the former England international. “I thought he was absolutely outstanding - without him making the saves he made it could have been three or four nil in the first half, so he deserves the headlines.”

Dublin is hoping the Canaries' next pre-season friendly against Vitesse Arnhem on Friday will give the club's new signings more time to settle in and backed Czech striker David Strihavka to be a big hit at Carrow Road.

“I think we've got the quality in the squad but it's just getting used to the game, getting used to the personnel,” said Dublin.

“I think David (Strihavka) has got to get used to the game. He's a big, strong physical lad and it's a big, strong physical game. He started to change his game in training and you can see he's got quality.

“I think he's a classic continental player and he's certainly got more to his game. He's going to have to dig deep, look long and hard in his locker and find a few more bits in there.”