Blues boss Paul Cook believes his seven-day emergency loan spell at Cambridge United is the perfect tonic for keeper Tomas Holy.

The 29-year-old Czech has dropped to being Town’s third-choice keeper this season following the signing of Vaclav Hladky from Salford and the loan addition of Christian Walton from Brighton and Hove Albion.

His only Blues appearances this season have been Carabao Cup and Papa John's Trophy ties.

On Tuesday, TWTD revealed that former Gillingham man Holy was set to join the U’s on a short-term spell as cover for their number one Dimi Mitov, who suffered a concussion the previous weekend.

The move was confirmed later in the day and Holy made his debut that evening in Cambridge’s 1-1 draw at Doncaster Rovers.

“I’m delighted for Tomas, I’m delighted we can help Cambridge,” Cook said. “I think Tomas has been really disappointed that he wasn’t in the squad selected on a matchday.

“Tomas is an absolutely outstanding professional, he loves the club, he loves playing. He feels everything that we feel and I think to go and play three games in a week for Cambridge was the perfect tonic for Tomas.

“I think it’ll just get those cobwebs out, he’ll get back to playing in front of crowds and hopefully a few good performances there can enhance what he’s doing at our place.”

The ability to be able to send an experienced keeper such as Holy out on loan illustrates the strength in depth the Blues have among their number ones.

“Without a doubt, I think the competition for places is right throughout the squad,” Cook continued.

“I think, especially with the opportunity for it be seven days and possibly three games for Tomas, it was one that when I proposed it to Tomas I felt he’d jump at because I know he's been disappointed about being left out the selected team or the squad.

“And there's nothing better for players than playing. There's nothing better for any player than to play, that's what we’re paid to do, that's what the players are, and the feel-good factor that comes from playing is great.

“Tomas has had a point up at Doncaster and he goes into the weekend’s game [at home to AFC Wimbledon] and the next game hopefully with some clean sheets and maybe some good saves and we will see Tomas's confidence will grow, so we wish Tomas well at Cambridge.”

Photo: Matchday Images

grow_our_own added 13:51 - Oct 29 Statistically, Hladky is the worst keeper in L1: https://fbref.com/en/comps/15/keepers/League-One-Stats The second table in this link shows individual keeper stats. On 53.1%, Hladky is easily the worst goalkeeper in L1 of those who've played a significant number of games. Yet despite conceding among the most, we have the second best expected goals against: https://footystats.org/england/efl-league-one/xg Only Rotherham are better chance-avoiders than us in L1. So our problem this season has not been the defence, it has been the goalkeeper. And specifically Hladky. I would placy Holy (along with nearly any other professional goalkeeper) ahead of Hladky as our #2 based on this season's form. Hladky should be out on loan instead.

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LegendofthePhoenix added 19:40 - Oct 29 Yes Holy has had one or two poor performances this year, but this is excellent management from Cook to get competitive games for Holy (and even to help Cambridge against some of our promotion rivals) so that his sharpness and confidence improve. I agree grow-our-own that Hladky just hasn't been up to standard, and Holy should be our 2nd choice keeper. Holy was ok last year, our problem wasn't the goals we conceded. Decent reserve keeper.

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