Keeper Randolph’s a key player in Promotion push
IT’S great to see that Darren Randolph has received Tony Pulis’s full backing following his mistakes against Aston Villa. The Republic of Ireland keeper has been a tower of strength for Boro as their last line of defence. In fact, before the Villa game, Randolph was arguably playing better than ever, especially from the point of view of his reflex saves. That’s not forgetting the fact that the 31-year-old has a more hectic football lifestyle than most at the Riverside, jetting off on a regular basis for to play in international games.
Randolph also established himself as a top keeper the hard way, initially struggling to break through at Charlton and working his way gradually up the ladder.
He endured several difficult loan spells before rejecting a contract extension at Charlton to sign for Motherwell, where he is career began to move into gear.
In fact Darren was named in the Scottish PFA’S team of the year.
A move back south of the Border followed to Birmingham, where he missed just one game over two seasons.
Randolph took a career risk when he turned down a new deal and signed for Premier League West Ham under freedom of contract.
He joined the Hammers initially to provide cover but eventually pushed his way through to the first team and became the No.1.
However his first team prospects dimmed when the Hammers took on former England keeper Joe Hart.
It was then that Boro made their move.
Boro paid £5m for Randolph
which has proved to be money very well spent. In fact he is arguably the best of the signings from the Garry Monk era.
Monk signed virtually a full team of new players but only Randolph, Ryan Shotton, Jonny Howson and Martin Braithwaite have been playing regularly under Pulis.
Shotton‘s career stalled under Monk but took off again after Pulis’s arrival and he has also proved to be a great addition to the squad.
Howson is also a key player in the engine room with his box to box work. What we need to see now is a few goals from the former Leeds and Norwich midfielder in the second half of the season.
The team’s promotion prospects will still hang on Boro’s ability to stay tight at the back and in this respect the key player remains Randolph.