David Stockdale is earning himself a reputation for saving penalties as the Brighton keeper made another save from the spot in Friday’s win over Sheffield Wednesday.
His initial save from Fernando Forestieri was good but his lightening reactions to get up and make a superb follow up save from the Wednesday striker wasn’t something that could be chalked up to being ‘at a nice height’ for Stockdale.
The Brighton no.1 told the Official Website.
‘For the first save, the Sky pundits might say it`s a nice height for him, but they can`t say that about the second one!’
However, Stockdale – whilst he took the plaudits for making the double save – has offered plenty of praise and credit to Brighton goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts.
Stockdale added the drills Roberts puts the keepers through make hell of a difference.
‘You don`t usually get so much credit for a penalty save, but a big shout-out goes to Ben Roberts from me. I said that at Fulham and I`ll say it again. He puts in so much time with our pre-match pack as goalkeepers, not just penalties, but everything. It`s just not penalties, but free-kicks, how they set up at free-kicks and all sorts of situations. You name it, it`s on there.’
On the actual win itself – which ended with a flurry of red cards – Stockdale said.
‘We don`t give up. I got the obligatory whiplash after the players when I saved it, and we went on to do something special. I almost forgot the score at the end! I don`t know how many people were left on the pitch at the end.’
Adding.
‘When I looked at the board, we were still winning 2-1 when the referee blew the whistle and that`s all that counts. You might have heard the music blaring at the end. We still had team spirit last week and when you hit a dip like that, the main thing is to bounce back in any way possible.’
Wednesday’s penalty was of course awarded for what was deemed a deliberate handball by Glenn Murray when the ball was smashed at the Brighton striker.
The Owls had Steven Fletcher and Sam Hutchinson sent off before full time too.
Albion have confirmed on the official Twitter account – via Sky Sports – that an appeal was being launched with this being heard today.
‘Brighton will appeal Glenn Murray’s red card against Sheffield Wednesday. The appeal will be heard by the FA on Monday.’
