Boss Mick McCarthy says he’s been delighted with keeper Dean Gerken’s form since he came into the side at the end of August. The 28-year-old, who joined the Blues in the summer following a trial after his release by Bristol City, has now made 16 consecutive league appearances and has been the man of the match in the last two games.
McCarthy, who said Gerken’s display at Forest on Saturday was a "point-winning performance”, feels the former Colchester keeper has shown that his confidence in him was warranted.
"He’s deserved that faith,” the Town boss said. "I also believe I gave that to Loachy as well when it was the right time to do it.
"And he might have been slightly unlucky [to lose his place] but we’d lost four out of five and I needed to change it.”
McCarthy says he has never considered dropping Gerken, even after an error which led to Wigan’s late second goal in the Blues’ 2-0 defeat at the DW Stadium in September.
"Gerks has been excellent since he came in,” he added. "We know he had the one at Wigan when everybody was asking whether I was going to leave him out because he’d made a mistake. Not a chance because he’s played well.
"There’s a real difference with goalkeepers. You might make a mistake and it ends up in the back of your net, but if you’re doing everything else well - kicking, coming for crosses, organising, doing all that - you’ve got to look beyond that one mistake. You can’t be dropping them for one mistake.”
Meanwhile, Town’s U21s will be in action away against Crystal Palace this afternoon at Tooting and Mitcham United’s KNK Stadium (KO 1pm).