Blues keeper Dean Gerken says work with Town’s performance analyst Jordan Miles was behind his first-half penalty save from Huddersfield’s James Vaughan during Saturday's 2-1 home victory over the Terriers.

“It was a lot to do with the revision with our analysis guy, Jordan,” he said. “The revision paid off.

“I revised it just before the game and decided that if he does the little stutter thing he does before a penalty, then I’d go down the side I did. Luckily enough for me he did and I went that side.

“That is the first penalty I have had to face this year and I was over the moon to save it.”

Gerken is aware that Town’s other keeper, Scott Loach, also saved a spotkick from Vaughan last year, as well as one from Derby’s Jamie Ward: “Scott saved a couple of penalties last season, including one against Vaughan. It is a bit like déjà vu, but I have a better beard.”

In addition to the penalty stop, the 28-year-old keeper made a number of other saves as the Blues came from behind: “That is what I’m there to do. Saving the ball is actually the easiest part of goalkeeping. It's all the other bits which are harder.

“I didn’t do anything out of the blue really but anything I can do to help the boys get the win I will do.

“Coming back and winning just shows the mental strength this team has. We enjoy playing with each and we are a close-knit group that really believe we can go places together.

“We have hit a real bit of form and have lost only three games since I have been in the team, although I’m not saying that it is down to me.

“Maybe we have drawn a couple which we could have won, but we are slowly progressing as a group and are a lot more resilient.”

Huddersfield’s Adam Hammill believes his side ought to have had the game won before the break: “We were gutted not just by the result but the way we lost it. They are a very direct team and we got sucked into their game.

“We should have been home and dry in the first half. We could have gone in three-up, but that’s football. It was a kick in the teeth.”

Photo: Action Images

WeirdFishes added 07:38 - Dec 9 "But I have a better beard" haha
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Blue_Armee added 08:51 - Dec 9 I think it's time to give Gerken some credit, yes he is prone to the odd mistake but all keepers are, look at Joe Hart. I think he played well Saturday that penalty save proved crucial in the end. Well done Deano.
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Jimmy86 added 09:06 - Dec 9 Gerken had a great game on saturday and justice was done with the pen save, coz that was never a pen in a million years and to see that smug, cocky vaughan have his second pen saved in 2 seasons was brilliant so credit to deano for that. Clearly affected vaughan tho because he was still walking around with his hands in his head a good 5 mins, maybe more, later. Gerken's best saves were in the second half tho and helped wun us the game. Gotta say i was hugely impressed by hamill and think he a real proper winger, in my opinion one of the best wingers in the division. Dont think we were quite as direct as he made out though!!!

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Wickets added 09:46 - Dec 9 Yer well done Dean good save and good performance. I would have wanted a pen if it was at the other end!
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Paulc added 10:18 - Dec 9 Well pleased for Geken. I've been fairly impressed in general with him this season. What I don't understand is if you have discovered your opponents 'tell' why broadcast it?
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essextractorboy93 added 11:38 - Dec 9 Bit of sour grapes there by Hammill having a cheeky little dig at us. It was a typical championship game. Not much to chose between Gerken and Loach but Gerken is doing a good job at the moment!
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Wickets added 12:20 - Dec 9 I think Hammill is correct in as much as we did go direct to the big two up front, think Mick realised that their midfield is perhaps a bit better than ours so he decided to miss them out. It worked we had at least as many scoring chances as they did and could have scored a couple of times early on, before they knew what we where doing. Good tactics by Mick for me.
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michael99 added 12:46 - Dec 9 i like gerkin i think he is a really good keeper it is interesting to read the"Saving the ball is actually the easiest part of goalkeeping. It's all the other bits which are harder."bit and the people on here who prefer loach need to try to understand this.gerkin's calmness ,desion making ,command of area and communication with his defense are all far better than loachys in other words he is a better keeper.

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Jimmy86 added 13:37 - Dec 9 Might be sour grapes from hammill but id sure love him in our team!!! Can pass, has a great delivery, both at set pieces and out in the wide areas, can shoot and is pretty quick too. Decent player
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bluelady added 14:15 - Dec 9 well i have to say our first goal was pretty direct - a long ball straight down the centre by Skuse - i would take a goal like that any day of the week! we have been playing some lovely stuff when we have kept it on the ground, however i have noticed that we do play a lot of head tennis in the centre at times whereas other teams seem to take control of the ball better in the middle third. Saturday we were probably more direct than usual due to the way we were set up with three up front, two of which are big lads - however i found it an entertaining game of footie and nothing like the direct cr** we played under the dark lord.... would love a winger like him though.....

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dude added 14:52 - Dec 9 Good job Dean!
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Dolly2.0 added 21:27 - Dec 9 bluelady, I hope I've read you wrong and you're being facetious about the ball by Skuse. It wasn't particularly long, just a very good, accurate pass, fantastically dispatched by the increasingly impressive McGoldrick. In fact none of our goals were 'long ball'.
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theobald1985 added 08:33 - Dec 10 michael99 cant see how he is better than loach you should speak to a few col u fans about him. He is dodgy on crosses which is his main fault an realistically loach was dropped for a couple of errors so really should have been back in the side after the derby game given gerkins performance in that game. Il continue to support DG at games but think the better keeper is on the bench

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michael99 added 13:59 - Dec 10 theobald1985,I dont care what he did or didnt do at colu,he left there years ago i have formed my opinion on watching all the home games this year,are you saying scott is better on crosses?i have yet to see scott leave his line and take a cross yet as he never leaves his line and makes the defence defend on the byline,and i havent seen dean dive over a shot and let one in yet like scott did against leeds

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theobald1985 added 16:18 - Dec 10 yes loach is better on crosses and indeed a better keeper you point to loachs mistake but what about DG against derby-he should have been dropped after that. you should care about his form at Col u when they had to bring a 38 year old out of retirment because of his howlers-to me he dosent look to have improved much. mick assessed them at the start of the season and gave SL the nod-micks initial decision was correct and I think he is just being stubborn not bringing Loach back in after derby. if your claiming SL never leaves his line and you have never seen him take a cross then you cant get to many games. For towns sake I hope DG proves you correct this season but if we miss out on the play offs by a point we will look back at the derby game and say DG should have been dropped

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michael99 added 21:16 - Dec 10 theobald1985,i see we are not going to agree here are we,i had a quick look on wiki at gerkins career,made debut at 20 ,number 1 at 22 player of the yr 2007 left 2009 after relegation to lge1(guessing here col u couldnt afford his contract and wanted shot/gerkin wanted to leave),also aiden davidson left in season 2007/2008 after "playing second fiddle to former understudy gerkin" according to wiki,funny enough i met aiden davidson when working at his house once when he was player/coach and he really rated gerkin and said that gerkin was better at shot stopping etc but at the time he was still better when it came to organisation decision making etc which of course only comes with experience.I hope dean doesnt start cocking up and proves me wrong!!!also i think its unfair to blame gerkin for drawing at derby as we were under the cosh all second half putting us under all sorts of pressure and derby have been on great form since mclaren took over and have won i think 5 games in a row now

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theobald1985 added 16:55 - Dec 11 proberbly not going to agree on here but what aiden davidson was descibing to you was important. there are many great shot stoppers around and gerkin is one of these but there are loads of great shot stoppers in the non league and the qualitys davidson speaks of such a organisation etc and knowing when to come and when to stay are what makes a truly great keeper. I watched col u during his time there as my father in law was in a wheelchair at the time so I was pushing him in as a career for free and remember well gerkins weaknesses and davidson having to be brought back in to cover after some clangers. col u wanted him to be there number one but he just did not cut it and was dreadful in the relagation season.that year Kevin lisbie was the topscorer i think in the whole division but col u went down due to a dreadful defence and DG was not commanding and poor on crosses.he still made the odd good save but overall poor certainly not better than loach. re derby I think you are having a laugh if you think he should not have done an awful lot better. I respect your support of him and I never voice criticism of a player while at the ground as I like to get behind the lads at portman road but just feel for SL who I feel has been poorly treated by mick.Hopefully DG will prove I know nothing and go on to lead us to the promised land COYB

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michael99 added 09:30 - Dec 12 Good little debate going on here!all i was saying is from my experience watching town this year gerkin looks a far better keeper than loach,you keep talking about when he was a col u but he was a a very young goalie then he looks to have improved those weak areas as he has matured(goalies are generally not good until late twenties)you say he was replaced by davidson but so was loach replaced by that polish clown at watford before they sold him to us.most young goalies go through this as they are too young to handle the constant pressure and need taking out of the firing line(even joe hart?)scott loach is still a number 2 imo,still has a lot to learn.another point,not blaming loach entirely but is it pure chance that last year we were crap then we got henderson in on loan and got better,this yr started crap again with loach (lost 3 of first 4 games)put gerkin in now only lost 3 in 13!anyway i must have won this debate as the manager obviously agrees with me and he knows more about football than both of us put together and reading some of the rubbish people post on this site he quite probably knows more than all the posters on this site put together!!

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theobald1985 added 16:45 - Dec 13 I think the improved form of the team is mainly to do with outfield players and you would struggle to convince me otherwise. I do know what you mean re mick picking him tho. last season I said I thought lee martin worked hard down the left and was doing a good job as that was not his position and everybody on here was slagging him off big time-but mick was picking him so I pulled out the old mick agrees with me line but it didant help everybody still hated Lee martin. I dont think DG has done enough to convince me his troubles as a keeper are behind him. Also I seem to remember henderson was recalled towards the end of last season and SL came in and did brilliantly.I think mick has made him a scapegoat for the poor early form when the whole team were awful -against leeds I was there and apart from cresswell and Mcgoldrick you could have dropped every outfield player but Mick chose to drop Loach and then showed his inconsistancy by not dropping gerkin after the derby game.It is a lovely little debate we have going here altough we are proberbly never going to agree but in the end we both want the same thing so hopefully we will both have something to cheer about come the end of the season

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