Earnshaw earns high praise

Earnshaw scored 26 goals for Cardiff last season

Robert Earnshaw has been signalled out as a star of the future after his all-action performance for Wales Under-21 on Tuesday.

The Cardiff City striker produced a performance of such hard running, graft and sheer bloody-mindedness in the Ukraine that prompted team boss Jimmy Shoulder to sing his praises.

But Earnshaw, who has a ludicrous £30million price tag slapped on his head after scoring 26 goals in Cardiff's promotion campaign, has not always lived up to the hype when he has been picked for the Under-21s.

Claims that he should already be in Mark Hughes' senior squad have seemed premature, to say the least.

The price tag from Ninian Park was partly an excuse for self publicity and also to put off bigger clubs - Sunderland having been watching the 21-year-old's progress.

But his display in the unlucky 1-0 defeat against Ukraine, by far the strongest side in the qualifying group, suggests Earnshaw is beginning to make his mark.

And Shoulder, who has not minced his words about Earnshaw in the past, was impressed.

He said: "I told Ernie after the game that had been his best performance for the Under-21s."

He added: "I will be hyper-critical a bit by saying that at times his pass selection is not clever enough, he's still looking for Third Division balls.

"He was still looking for the ball over the top when I would have liked him to get in front of defenders and at least win free-kicks.

"The Ukrainian lads were just dropping off and reclaiming possession.

"All of our players need to be a little bit smarter. But his performance was the best for us and he had the best chance of the game when clear and trying a chip.

"You can't take any of that away from him.

"Everybody fought for the cause. I don't like being critical of young players but there had been occasions when some of our lads have felt sorry for themselves.

"Nobody has ever gone on the pitch and not tried, but at times it's been a case of `here we go again' and heads have gone down."