Town have signed Everton keeper Paul Gerrard on a month's loan. The ex-Oldham man will go straight into the starting line-up at Watford tomorrow afternoon.

Gerrard, 29, has been out of favour at Goodison Park since losing the number one shirt in the summer, ironically to Richard Wright.

He is well known to Joe Royle and Willie Donachie having made his debut for the Latics during their tenure at Boundary Park. They also paid £1 million for him when they took him to Goodison in July 1996.

Town number one Andy Marshall has been under fire for some time after a succession of errors, the latest leading to Slovan Liberec's late goal on Thursday.

Manager Royle says he is aware that Gerrard joining the Blues will be a blow for Marshall: "I think the time has come to take Andy out of the line of fire for a while. He's been under quite a bit of pressure lately. It's a big disappointment for him, but I'm sure he'll bounce back."

Town have been light of goalkeepers since Matteo Sereni moved to Brescia on loan in the summer while Mike Salmon was released before retiring with a knee problem. More recently Keith Branagan announced his retirement due to a shoulder injury.

In the summer former Town manager George Burley looked at two American keepers, Jeff Cassar and Ian Feuer, and also approached Brentford keeper Olafur Gottskalksson who was not interested in a move to Portman Road which he thought would mean he would spend all his time on the bench.

Young keeper James Pullen recently made his first team debut in the Worthington Cup game with Middlesbrough, an appearance which was worth £10,000 to his former club Heybridge Swifts.

It is understood that Town may be interested in Gerrard permanently, however his initial month deal does include a clause which means he can return to Goodison should Richard Wright or Steve Simonsen suffer an injury.

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