Town keeper Bartosz Bialkowski has given his seal of approval to the strong group of young keepers coming through at Playford Road. The 28-year-old will be back at his old club Southampton this evening for ex-Blues stopper Kelvin Davis’s testimonial (KO 7.30pm).

While the Polish keeper has spent most of the season going head-to-head with Dean Gerken in a fascinating fight to be Town’s number one, a number of youngsters have been steadily impressing in the background.

Topping the youth bill lately has been Nick Hayes who was drafted in to join team-mates Ben Morris and Andre Dozzell in England U17s squad at the European Championships in Azerbaijan last week, although ultimately without adding to his three caps.

But Harry Wright, son of Richard, who like Hayes has just completed the first year of his academy scholarship, and Jacob Marsden, 19, have also impressed this season, while 20-year-old Michael Crowe, who we understand is set to agree new terms with his current contract up this summer, waits patiently behind Bialkowski and Gerken.

Amid such emerging talent, Bialkowski has revealed the role the two senior stoppers have played while also paying tribute to Town goalkeeping coach Malcolm Webster.

Town’s multi-player of the year award winner said: “We have been working every day with all the keepers. They have been really good, they have good mentality, they always want to work hard and try and improve every day.

“We try and help them during the training sessions. We had a meeting a couple of months ago with them. We talked about football and the pressure of being a goalkeeper. We are trying to help them. It is good for them and very good for the club.”

And of Webster’s role in improving all the keepers at the club, Bialkowski added: “You can talk to him if you have a problem and he will always try and make you a better keeper.

“In training, he will talk about doing something else to improve. He will always pick something and they are things I wouldn’t even think about.

“For example, the technique of kicking into the ball. It is great for me to have that kind of goalkeeping coach at the club.”

Bialkowski previously worked with Webster during his time as a young keeper coming through the ranks at Southampton, where he will be back in action tonight for a Promotions XI in Kelvin Davis’s testimonial.

Davis was with the Blues between July 2003 and June 2005 and signed for the Saints in July 2006 after a year with Mick McCarthy’s Sunderland.

The 39-year-old says tonight’s game will be his last for Southampton but hopes to remain at St Mary’s in some capacity.

Bialkowski says he enjoyed his time with the Saints, having joined them under George Burley’s management in January 2006 before eventually leaving for Notts County in June 2012.

“I have Southampton deep in my heart to be honest because I spent almost seven years there,” he told Saintsfc.co.uk.

“We’ve still got so many friends over there as well, so it’s always nice to come back, and now to finally play at St Mary’s again — I’m really looking forward to it.

“Kelvin is an amazing guy. He’s had a fantastic career there having served the club so well. He’s a true legend and I’m really happy for him.”

Meanwhile, Davis’s former Town team-mate Kevin Horlock has been named the new manager of Ryman North side Maldon and Tiptree.

Photo: Action Images

sidtheswan added 10:42 - May 17 Don't know why but feel that Bart's a Town legend already !
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hoppy added 10:56 - May 17 I'm just glad the keeper's gloves were back on the right hands for the majority of the second half of the season... they just should've been back in them much sooner, that's all.
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Tractamatt added 11:01 - May 17 Best keeper we've had for some time. Hope that we can keep him for a long time to come but a good keeper will always attract attention. He's one player I would expect a lot of speculation about this summer.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 11:07 - May 17 Agree Bart is already a bit of a legend. If Harry Wright follows the Peter-Kasper model, then we shouldn't have anything to worry about on the goalkeeping side for the foreseeable future.
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Cakeman added 11:41 - May 17 Agree with all previous comments Bart is indeed our best keeper for several years. First class attitude to match.
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jas0999 added 12:09 - May 17 Interesting. Up until Dozzell making his deserved debut we have heard virtually nothing about youngsters and now in the past month it has been academy this, youth/ young player that. Previously it's been relying on ageing has beens. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of youngsters starting occasionally, but is this a way of the club saying they are going to be relying on just youth next season? Clearly we need a good balance, which will involve some transfer activity.

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TimmyH added 12:20 - May 17 agree with jas - up to a month ago we heard nothing about our youth, Dozzell starts and scores and we've heard but. If we were in the play-offs do you think we would have been hearing this?...makes you wonder if the club will rely on the likes of Bish, Dozzell, Kenlock etc. coming through for next season rather than making significant signings. As said nothing wrong with our own coming through!

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Stato added 12:36 - May 17 Wether we like it or not we have a limited budget so the more home grown talent we can generate the better. Maybe these emerging talents will be enough to get the club to take cat 1 status seriously
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BlueRaider added 12:36 - May 17 I think there is a case for letting Gerken go this summer, it puts to bed the issue of who is number 1, and frees up money for elsewhere in the squad. There is enough to back Bart up
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iaintaylorx added 12:59 - May 17 What a great pro. Does make me wonder though, where would we be if he had played more this season?
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terryf added 14:26 - May 17 I agree that we need to put faith in a few more youngsters next season. If it was good enough for Bobby Robson then it should be no different for Mick McCarthy. However for a guy who sets his Teams up not to lose rather than win games I will only be convinced when I see it happen. The likes of Emmanuel, Kenlock and Dozzell should be given a chance to shine. If he gets the midfield right, which has been our main issue for several seasons, then we may have optimism for a successful and hopefully more entertaining season.

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Dissboyitfc added 16:54 - May 17 Laintaylorx...no need to wonder, we would have reached the play-offs. Got a lot of time for Bart, already a fans favourite!
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RegencyBlue added 17:06 - May 17 jas0999 - spot on. On the one hand I hope its true that we have a good crop of youngsters capable of playing in the Championship. It was always the Ipswich way in the past to bring young players on and has been sadly lacking in recent years. On the other hand I have a distrust of pretty much everything that comes from the Evans regime and cannot help wondering if the timing of this isn't just a little bit to convenient. Season ticket sales down, an increasingly disillusioned fan base and then suddenly we have youngsters galore available for the first team. Is there anyone out there who watches these kids on a regular basis who can give an honest, unbiased view as to just how good they are?

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Dissboyitfc added 17:09 - May 17 Regency the proof i guess will be in the eating! we will see!
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Seasider added 17:42 - May 17 Blue Raider,agree that we could now let Gerken go;but don't think Mick would be very keen,and he apparently calls the shots with transfers. On the other hand if interest shown in Bart hope he wouldn't be tempted, would he, on the pretext of raising funds? He could then get his favorite Gerks back in goal. He wouldn't dare would he?
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BrettenhamBlue added 06:53 - May 18 egencyBlue Just my opinion, but I have seen the U18 and U21 a few times last season. Dozzell, Emmanuel = ready. Kenlock = seems ok. Blanchfield, Hayes, Crowe, Benyu, Robinson = not yet ready for first team action. Morris = hard to say. Think he needs a season on-loan at a League 2 club to see what he can do. The U21 and U18 results haven't been good this year and we have on occasion played really poor opposition. Not 100% sure about these results but think U21 played 27, won 7 and lost 14. U18 played 29, won 9, lost 16. Some of our "football' in these games wasn't good. I'd sum up the games I've seen as "awful mistakes and poor passing, too much hoofball and too little fight" Reliance on youth is a dangerous strategy for the forth-coming season. We need a couple of good wingers and a right back for next year from transfer dealings to be competitive.

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