Accrington Stanley vs Torquay United - Saturday 26th Feb

[Southampton Gull]

Disagree Nick. I've watched it another two times and none of those are his fault. There's no doubt that the first at Cheltenham was a simple error in judgement by Potter, you never punch a ball down as a keeper and certainly not down into the penalty area. For the Accy goal he never got off the deck, his arms were wide apart and he never watched the flight of the ball, all basic flaws. The goals at the Swindon game in the JPT were caused by him hesitating hugely on both occasions. Bevan isn't perfect, far from it, but he has more capability than Potter who has now been given his chance and fluffed it.

[Trojan 67]

I don't have any issues with any of the three 'keepers, especially the former semi pro currently residing in Hampshire.

Edit : paid professional playing on a part time basis

[robc]

Southampton Gull: I'm not in this debate, merely observing (and for the record, I think Bevan is a better keeper than Potter from the little I've seen this season, and from when he was at Cambridge) but for you to say that Bevan was not at least equally as responsible as Ellis for Midson's second goal seems crazy to me. That was one of the few games I've managed to get to this season and believe me, his reactions were awful, he should have either got out a lot quicker and made the block, or perhaps more sensibly, not come out at all, simply a couple of steps forward and to his right, to block off the near post shot. I used to be a goalkeeper and one of my worst habits was rushing off my line to readily, which I think Bevan has also done with that goal...

Anyway, for what it's worth, that's my opinion. On a slightly different note, I think we should do everything we can to try and get Poke back here in the summer, who is a far, FAR better goalkeeper than either Bevan or Potter. I don't mean to sound harsh on Bevan, as he's definitely one of the better keepers we've had in the last 10 years, but if there's even a sniff of getting Poke in the summer, I'd happily make him our highest paid player...

[Southampton Gull]

Rob, what I said was that I didn't think the goal was his fault, which it wasn't. Midson was clean through, one on one and slid it into the corner. Bevan came off his line to narrow the angle but it was already past him before he could get down to the ground. There is a moments hesitation but that would be down to him having to work out if he had any cover, I still stand by my opinion. Happy to agree to differ though

[Dave]

Oh goody a mass-debate,i love a good mass-debate,the reason why i think Bevan was at fault for the midson one on one is and a remember it clearly,he came out,stopped and then went again,to me him stopping and coming again,not only gave the time but also the angle for midson to fire home.

I also thought Bevan could and should have stopped the Gillingham goal at home,i had a birds eye view of it,and poorly struck shot from a long way out,yes it took a deflection only slight,and still along way from goal,Bevan to me had time to get his feet right and set position to save the shot,please do not get me iam not trying to knife Bevan here,but that is his flaw,he has a habit of going down like a sack of potatoes into the bottom corners at times,if you could marry the two you would have one hell of a keeper,like said above above there is areason why there both playing in legaue 2.

[Southampton Gull]

Well in fairness Dave, you thought Potter had a good game against Cheltenham, so shut it

[Dave]

Well in fairness Dave, you thought Potter had a good game against Cheltenham, so shut it

Well o.k for the sake of fairness mouth zipped :na:

[Trojan 67]

Oh goody a mass-debate,i love a good mass-debate,the reason why i think Bevan was at fault for the midson one on one is and a remember it clearly,he came out,stopped and then went again,to me him stopping and coming again,not only gave the time but also the angle for midson to fire home.

I also thought Bevan could and should have stopped the Gillingham goal at home,i had a birds eye view of it,and poorly struck shot from a long way out,yes it took a deflection only slight,and still along way from goal,Bevan to me had time to get his feet right and set position to save the shot,please do not get me iam not trying to knife Bevan here,but that is his flaw,he has a habit of going down like a sack of potatoes into the bottom corners at times,if you could marry the two you would have one hell of a keeper,like said above above there is areason why there both playing in legaue 2.

Nothing wrong with the spelling there. :no:

W*nker (the clue to the vowel is in the smilie).

[ChineseGull]

I'm surprised this debate has lasted so long, as (in my opinion) Bevan is clearly the better keeper! His hesitance against Oxford was because it was a difficult decision where he had to be 100% sure, the mistake was that he got beaten from that angle. But this is ONE example, there are not many more. He has been very consistent overall, whereas Potter has made more than one mistake in his short spell in the team.

The impact of having a keeper who can come and claim the ball in the air is underestimated by so many people (including PB it seems). Bevan helps the defence out a lot in this department, something Potter didn't have the ability to do at Cheltenham. Ask the central defenders who they want behind them in the big games when they're up against it and i'm confident that they'd opt for Bevan every time.

[JamieE]

I watched the highlights of the Accy game with my work mate and his comment for Potter's goalkeeping for their goal was he looked like a schoolboy, which he did. Bevan in for the next game please.

[Gulliball]

Just seen the highlights. Thought the red for Ellis was harsh as from that far out, on that pitch, it's very doubtful he would have had a clean run through and shot. It also looked like a coming together rather than a deliberate take-down, so the ref could have been lenient there. As for their goal, I have to agree with the schoolboy game comment, it was just like the primary school kid who was stuck in goal because he wasn't popular and tried his best but was afraid of the ball - I don't know what Potter was attempting but whatever it was, it didn't come off. Disappointing, but it's a horrible place to go to and we're still in the mix.

[cambgull]

Just seen the highlights myself. Potter just looked pathetic for that entire game, every time Accy had a shot he would get up like he was about to give a defender sh*t and would say absolutely nothing. I'm not sure if he really seems to know where his posts are and as for the goal, terrible. For any other keeper in League 2 that was 1 step to the left and a possibly difficult but pretty standard catch, why he decided dive backwards like Neo on The Matrix (and considering the bullets went past him too) I just cannot work out.

As for the Ellis sending off, I can understand why the ref did it but to be honest, I think there was minimal contact, the guy blatantly went down far too easy and Ellis had absolutely no intention of doing it. The guy ran into him, saw his outstretched foot and went tumbling.

[tommyg]

I do admit the TV angles don't help out Potter, but standing behind that Accy goal, the ball swerved at rapid pace. The highlights don't do the shot justice. Perhaps Bevan would have saved it, but then perhaps Bevan wouldn't have saved one of the other Accy efforts. I believe Bevan is the better keeper and is extremely unfortunate to be on the bench. but I was pleased with Potter's performance on Saturday.

[Jeff]

I do admit the TV angles don't help out Potter, but standing behind that Accy goal, the ball swerved at rapid pace. The highlights don't do the shot justice. Perhaps Bevan would have saved it, but then perhaps Bevan wouldn't have saved one of the other Accy efforts. I believe Bevan is the better keeper and is extremely fortunate to be on the bench. but I was pleased with Potter's performance on Saturday.

I'd agree with that. The tv pictures look a lot worse than how I remembered it. The ball moved around a bit, but Potter reacted a little late - the shot was a bit out of the blue so might have caught him out a touch. The fact that he moved late seems to me to give the appearance that the ball went through his hands, when in reality he wasn't really anywhere near it. Potter gave a much better account of himself on Saturday than he did at Cheltenham.

For the record I am a big Bevan fan and would like to see him starting, but we are in a rare situation where we have 2 keepers who are fairly closely matched. We may even have the strongest pair of keepers in the division - there are few clubs who have that sort of strength in reserve.

[ferrarilover]

Yes, Potter reacted late, but it's clear from the way he dived that the ball was all over the place. I've seen worse shots than that, much closer to the goalie, beat premier league keepers, so I think a little consideration is in order.
This >>> demonstrates my point.
For the first goal against CTFC, he was being fouled on the line for the punch, any other time, that's an automatic free kick, this one the referee didn't give. The second goal, well, why it wasn't cleared by the attending defender, God only knows.
I like Potter and I think he is the equal of Scotty B all things considered. He makes better decisions about coming off his line, which is Scott's real weakness.
Some of the saves Scott makes are amazing and his ability to make double saves is up there with the very best I have ever seen anywhere. I find myself in the odd situation of not really being fussed which man we have in goal,since I think they each have strengths/weaknesses which the other doesn't.

Anyway, I've just spotted something "interesting" about Rotherham's results this year, so I'm off to that thread instead.