Gerken hailed after masterclass

The keeper made a succession of vital saves as the Robins claimed a point which sees them unbeaten in three games although they have still only won twice in 13 league games.They had a reprieve at Portman Road in injury-time when Connor Wickham's long throw sailed everyone into the net and was promptly disallowed because no-one had got a touch to the ball.Defeat would have been tough on Gerken who excelled, particularly in the second half as the game exploded into life.Johnson said: "Our goalkeeper was the difference today."In the second half he came into his own and had to make three or four magnificent saves, maybe four or five."He certainly earned his money."Like all goalkeepers, they've got the odd mistake in them, whether they're on £200 a week or £50,000."They all make mistakes and when they do they're seen by everyone and they get punished."But Dean makes more saves than mistakes."That's for sure and when you've got a goalkeeper like that he's worth a lot to you."He's done very well today and I'm very proud of him."Gerken was the undisputed man of the match as the game crackled into life after the break.He blocked a close-range drive from Jon Walters, who robbed defender Bradley Orr, and dived to clutch a glancing header by David Norris.Incredibly, Gerken then parried Daryl Murphy's well-worked effort, clawed away a near-post header from Gareth McAuley and turned away a long-ranger by Walters.Sandwiched in between his catalogue of saves, Jack Colback's flicked effort with the outside of his boot struck the Robins post.City's best effort was a Chris Iwelumo header from inside the six-yard box that clattered the Ipswich bar.Town boss Roy Keane was equally praiseworthy of Gerken."He was brilliant and sometimes you have to praise the opposition," he said."We can talk about our misses but in the two games we've played against them, their keeper's been brilliant and the difference between us having two points and six."It was a frustrating second half because we were outstanding."We were on the front foot, dominated and had chance after chance but their keeper had one of those days and it didn't look like we were ever going to score."We were making things happen, whereas in the first half we were waiting for things to happen."I was glad to see the back of the first half, because we never got going."Talk about two different halves. It was unbelievable."We've got to be careful not to turn up and expect things to happen. We've got to make them happen."In the second half the players were committed, taking people on, taking risks and we were a bit braver."But we have to start at 3pm."We never got going in the first half and I was very pleased to get the players in at half-time. The players weren't but I was."Keane felt his side should have been "cuter" and that one of his players should have celebrated the 'goal' that was disallowed in the closing seconds.However, Johnson said: "I knew it hadn't touched anyway but I didn't know if the referee knew that."I don't know who ended up making the decision, to be honest, but we think it was the right decision."

Source: Team_Talk