GLENN Roeder has heaped praise on Jason Shackell following the defender's positive response to losing the captaincy a month ago.

The 24-year-old turned in a man of the match display at St Mary's on Tuesday night to help the Canaries to an excellent 1-0 win against Southampton.

His performance capped a fine few weeks for the young centre-half, who saw the skipper's armband passed across to Mark Fotheringham shortly after Roeder's arrival in the hot-seat.

And Roeder believed Shackell recent form demonstrated he'd been right to relieve the Academy product of the burden of responsibility.

"He's still a relatively young player playing in an old man's position," said Roeder. "I think he needed to concentrate on his own game, rather than shoulder the blame of being the captain.

"Especially because by the time I came here at the end of October we were on eight points. Now I've got to know him, he takes things very much to heart and I felt he was feeling very responsible as the captain because of the position we were in.

"It shouldn't have been like that and I told him it didn't need to be like that. But I thought it was only the right thing to do, once I saw Fotheringham at work at the training ground and his character, to let Fotheringham be the captain until the end of this season and let Shackell concentrate on his own game."

It looks as though Shackell will have to continue his good form if he wants to retain his place in the heart of Norwich's defence. Roeder has strongly hinted that bringing another centre back to the Club before Thursday night's transfer window slams shut remains a priority.

But Shackell said he would welcome any competition, and believed it could only serve to benefit the team.

"You can't affect what goes on, who the gaffer is going to bring in," he said. "It's always good to have healthy competition. We do need a centre half, we haven't got enough at the Club. It would be a good addition and a little competition makes everyone up their game a little bit."

Since on-loan Birmingham defender Martin Taylor returned to the midlands last month, Shackell has been virtually ever-present alongside Gary Doherty. In fact, Norwich have not lost a game since Taylor departed, and Shackell believed it demonstrated the understanding he and the Doc had developed.

"I love playing with Doc," he said. "Doc is an excellent player. He's great to play alongside and he can cover you if you make mistakes. But the whole back four - Mo, Ryan when he came back to left-back, Semi, everyone is really pulling their weight at the moment."

Pulling their weight helped City earn a valuable three points on the south coast on Tuesday night. Norwich survived a number of close calls, with the home side striking the woodwork three times and Stern John comically missing a penalty.