Boss Mick McCarthy says keeper Dean Gerken magnanimously accepted his decision to stick with Bartosz Bialkowski for the 2-2 draw at Bournemouth on Saturday. Gerken, 29, had been McCarthy’s number one for more than a year before suffering a groin problem in the warm-up at Blackpool at the start of the month.
As a result, Bialkowski, 27, a summer signing from Notts County, was handed a surprise debut in the 2-0 win at Bloomfield Road, then continued as Gerken was sidelined for the home games against Wolves and Watford, 2-1 and 1-0 victories respectively.
"I’ve got two goalkeepers, I could flick a coin between the pair of them,” McCarthy admitted.
"Gerks was unbelievably generous in the fact that he said, ‘You don’t have to say it to me, I know and he deserves to play and I’d be exactly the same if I’d have got in and you’d left me out, I’d have been [disappointed]’.
"And he got in and to be fair Gerks was very magnanimous I thought, the fact that he knew he deserved to stay in. And he did.
"We’ve got two really good goalkeepers keeping each other on their toes now.”
Pole Bialkowski, who previously had a loan spell with the Blues in 2009 but without making a senior appearance, impressed again at Dean Court, most notably making a brilliant double save in the first half, and is likely to keep his place for Saturday’s live Sky game at Charlton.