When Crawley Town goalkeeper Brian Jensen dislocated his finger after 39 minutes of their League 1 clash against MK Dons this weekend, management and players alike cast their eyes around for a suitable replacement. Except, without another keeper currently at the club, criteria such as ball handling, positioning, or reflexes were jettisoned for a rather more prosaic selection process. As striker Matt Harrold says, “I got pressured into it because everyone just looked at me and said: 'you’re big'”.
6ft 1in Harrold had never played in goal before, not even in training, which made it something of a surprise when the gloves came his way. So how did he get on?
“The first half was nerve-wracking, it was so strange being in goal” said Harrold. But with keeper Jensen coaching him from behind the net, and his father (“he says he was a goalie back in the day”) passing on advice from the crowd, Harrold almost guided Crawley to a 2-1 victory but for a 96th minute equalizer. It was nevertheless a vital point in their struggle against relegation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Harrold's heroics between the sticks not only earned him a place in the Football League's Team of the Week (as a goalkeeper, we should add) but also his first Man of the Match award for Crawley. “It’s quite embarrassing really. First man of the match for the club and I’m playing in goal.”
Hey, you gotta take ‘em as they come.
