It’s behind us now

TEAM-MATES SHOW SUPPORT FOR DUBRAVKA AS WOLVES GAME IS CONSIGNED TO HISTORY

MARTIN Dubravka believes the chemistry between Newcastle United’s goalkeeping brigade is perfect, writes LEE RYDER.

The Slovakian has been battling hard in training alongside Karl Darlow and Freddie Woodman here in Spain and knows he must keep up the hard work to ensure he keeps his place.

However, Dubravka does not feel the friendly competition for places has affected his mindset, despite a week which featured a late collapse at Wolves.

The general feeling in the camp is Dubravka was robbed by a poor referee’s decision.

When asked how his fellow goalkeepers have been around him, Dubravka said: “Every one of them has been amazing.

“Karl, Freddie, Rob, all of them has been supportive since the first day I came here.

“I was on the bench when Karl played at Crystal Palace last season, so I saw up close how good he is. I tried to support him then and then afterwards I got my own chance.

“So they supported me and that is not easy for goalkeepers, especially for someone who was No 1 before me. I have to say our relationship is unbelievable.

“We always try to push ourselves in training, which is great.

“We are always smiling, chatting to each other and pushing ourselves along. This is the way it should be.

“That is the only way we can be successful. Maybe that is easy for me to say because I am in goal at the moment.

“You could ask them and they might say something different but I doubt it.” ■■NEWCASTLE United take on Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow today in a tune-up friendly for next weekend’s crunch clash with Huddersfield Town.

The match kicks off at noon local time, which is 11.00 UK time.

The club will be screening the game on NUFC TV for a cost of £2.95. Our website – Chroniclelive. co.uk – will be liveblogging the match in its entirety with build-up, post-match analysis and live video through the game.