Dunn earns manager's praise

13 September 2011 08:39
Hurt goalkeeper steps into breech Coventry City manager Andy Thorn has praised his young goalkeeper Chris Dunn for his heroic performance against Derby County at the weekend. Dunn, making his Championship debut for City, replaced Murphy at half time after Murphy pulled a hamstring when he rushed to of his goal to make a goal saving clearance with his feet and thus saving Sammy Clingan's blushes after his howler gave Derby's Jamie Ward a gilt edged chance on goal. Murphy couldn't continue and Dunn had to come on, but the 23 year old Dunn had injured himself in training earlier in the week after a collision with a goal post left him with ten stitches above his right eye and had to wear a rugby style scrum cap to protect his head. Thorn was delighted with the performances of both his goal keepers in the 2-0 win over Derby as both men made fine saves at crucial times in the game. Dunn had to make a cracking save just minutes after coming on to prevent Derby from taking the lead, when he pushed a fierce shot, from John Brayford one handed around the post for a corner. Thorn is delighted to have captured both goalkeepers and to get them both on free transfers is an added bonus, although Coventry had to pay Northampton Town a development fee for Dunn because of his age. Speaking to the CT, Thorn enthused, “Dunny has been pulling off unbelievable saves in training, as has Murph, and both have been getting rounds of applause from the players.”   After making his first save from Brayfield's shot, Thorn said, “I turned to Oggy and asked why he couldn’t have held on to it. It didn’t come as a surprise to me and Oggy because we see him do that in training every day." “He’s a really good keeper and we think he can kick on here and be anything he wants the size he is. He’s been doing loads of work with Oggy over the last few months and that’s all coming to fruition now." "He’s been doing double sessions and is improving all the time, so all credit to the lad. To get him and Murph on frees was a great bit of business for the club.” Murphy will undergo tests during the week on his hamstring injury to asses the extent of the damage to ascertain whether he will be fit enough to travel to Ipswich next Monday for another televised game. While Dunn wants his team mate to make a quick recovery, he is also keen to play as much as possible and will take his chances while Murphy is out of action. Speaking to the CT, he said, “I just want to play and take my opportunity when it comes. You always have to prepare right because you never know what is going to happen in a game and then take your opportunity when it comes." “Unfortunately Murph got hurt making his save so I went on and knew I had to concentrate and do what I had to do." Dunn, sporting a swelling and a black eye from his ten stitches, went on to say, “I had a little jog just before half time and then Oggy came up to me and told me I was going on and to enjoy it, and that’s what I did." “I wasn’t nervous, I was looking forward to it. When you sit there you always want to play. I was playing last year and I was buzzing just to get on the pitch.” Talking about his one handed save seconds into the second half, he said: “I think it was my first touch of the ball. It is always nice to get an early touch and nice that it was an important one, but the main thing as a group is that we got a result which we desperately needed as a team, and hopefully we can kick on now." “First impressions are important and I have just got to keep concentrating and take it into the next game and hopefully we can start pushing as a team and start getting more results now." “Everyone was ecstatic in the dressing room afterwards, just to get that first win under our belts and against a decent team who were third in the league coming here." "It has given the lads loads of confidence and just shows the quality we have got in our squad as well. The lads were always confident it was going to come but it was nice to get it in front of the home fans.”

Source: FOOTYMAD