A bad day at the office! - 29/10/2003

Sometimes you want the world to open up and swallow you, last night was one of those times. I simply misjudged the flight of the ball and it bounced and flew over my head. As a goalkeeper any mistake can be crucial and although a centre forward might fluff a shot and miss an easy chance, it’s far more difficult to put it behind you in my position. Carlo Cudicini hasn’t had an easy time, after a great 12 months, his mistake against Arsenal was plastered all over the papers. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s one of the best keepers in the Premiership, but nevertheless he was the focus for media the following day. OK, I’m a paid up member of the ‘goalkeeper’s union’, but it’s a times like these when you need a bit of understanding.

I have to thanks the lads, I was more than a bit sick when I got back to the changing rooms. They did their best to help me out and one of them pointed out that I’d played my part in winning Saturday’s game against Palace. It helps, but when I went to bed last night you know what was on my mind!

Clichéd as it is, I’d rather have won on Saturday than last night, and FA Cup excepting, we’ll be concentrating on the league. We’d been playing OK without getting results so the Palace result was a relief. Ipswich will be tough, Joe Royle’s got them organised and they’ve a squad that most First Division teams would envy. They’re up there in seventh place and certainly have realistic ambitions to get back to the top flight. But we got three points last week and we’ll be looking for more. If one thing is for sure, I’ll be doing everything possible to put the Bolton game behind me.

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