GLOVE-LY... SOS keeper extends stay
Lee is still not right so we have signed David Stockdale for another week and we are looking at the situation day by day. Mark Robins
DAVID Stockdale is set to keep goal for Coventry City again today when free-falling Walsall visit the Ricoh Arena.
The 33-year-old Birmingham City stopper earned rave reviews for his performance and clean sheet on his debut against Rochdale last Saturday, and has been signed up for a second week with the Sky Blues due to first choice Lee Burge still struggling with a shoulder problem.
With understudy Liam O’Brien still out with a knee injury, City only have the untried Corey Addai fit and available, allowing the club to take advantage of the emergency loan rule.
“Lee is still not right so we have signed David Stockdale for another week and we are looking at the goalkeeping situation day by day really,” said manager Mark Robins.
He is hopeful Burge will be fit for next week’s trip to league leaders Luton Town but has the security of knowing that he can keep extending Stockdale’s loan for as long as he’s needed.
“Lee’s shoulder is still sore and giving him problems,” said the boss. “He won’t be too far away and I am hoping he’s going to be available for next week but we just have to wait and see.
“We are playing it day by day and planning it that way.”
Robins will be in the market for at least one new goalie in the summer but asked again if Stockdale, who has been frozen out at St Andrew’s, will be an option, Robins pretty much ruled it out on the grounds that he’s an established Championship player on second tier wages.
“I don’t know,” he said, of the player who has another year left on his Blues deal. “He’s in a different league literally and in every way, so I think that would be difficult. But while he’s here I am happy to have him. He has come in to help and is working hard and just want to see him continue that type of performance he showed last weekend.” Asked for an update on 27-year-old O’Brien, who is out of contract at the end of the season, Robins said: “He’s still injured. He hasn’t played for 14 weeks so he’s still not available yet. “The only fit goalkeeper I have got is Corey, hence I needed to resign David for another week. Reading loan man, David Meyler, meanwhile, is back in training and hopes to be available for selection against the Saddlers.
“He’s trained all week but had a spell where he has been out of the main group concentrating on his fitness and strengthening work so we can get him to a level where he can speed up his work, and he’s getting there,” said the manager. “So he should be OK assuming he gets through training today [Friday] with no problems.”
The Sky Blues will look to build on last win’s win at Rochdale against a Walsall side that have been sucked into a relegation battle. The Saddlers are on a horrendous run, losing seven of their last eight games to slip within two points of the relegation zone. However, Dean Keates’ side have taken the spoils in the sides’ two meetings so far this season.
City had deservedly fought back from 2-0 down in the November FA Cup tie at the Banks’s Stadium with goals from Jonson Clarke-Harris and Luke Thomas but Nicky Devlin lashed home Walsall’s 77th-minute winner for a 3-2 scoreline.
A month later, the Sky Blues again suffered frustration, having led through a Thomas effort before two goals in stoppage time gave the Saddlers a 2-1 victory.