Town keeper Cieran Slicker saved two penalties to help his loan side Barnet to a 2-1 victory away against Crewe Alexandra in League Two this afternoon.

Evoking memories of legendary Blues’ stopper Paul Cooper, Slicker first saved Josh March’s spot-kick on 61, then turned the second from Max Sanders onto the bar with his feet 11 minutes later.

“The first one, I sort of got a gauge on where he was going, credit to the staff behind the scenes, they do a lot of work on it. Kirk [Rayment, chief analyst] and Craig [Holloway, goalkeeper-coach] watched and I was told where he was going to go,” Scotland international Slicker said.

“And the second one, was sort of just feel. It’s quite rare and I was buzzing with the two saves and to help the team get the win.”

Following the second stop, Slicker, 22, making his sixth appearance for the Bees, was surrounded by his delighted teammates: “Firstly, after the save, I didn’t know where the ball was. You can see on the video, I did a little twirl!

“Then I heard it hit the crossbar and Tavs [Nikola Tavares] has done amazing to put his body on the line and clear it, that was obviously most important.

“But once the ball had gone out of play, it was just carnage. I don’t really remember it, to be honest. It’s a great feeling.”

Manager Dean Brennan added: “Cieran did brilliantly with the penalties. He read the first and pushed away the second one with his legs – although that one shouldn’t have been given as it was a dive. He has got a great football brain.

“It was a dramatic game with the persistence and hard work shown by the players getting us the three points.”

Crewe manager Lee Bell claimed his side ought to have been awarded even more penalties: “We had plenty of chances to score more goals, but we missed two penalties, which you don’t see very often. There wasn’t a lot of football in the game, but we should have won it comfortably.

“I thought Barnet would play a bit more, but they slowed everything down. But we should have two more penalties, the second when there was a handball late on. You don’t win games if you are not ruthless in both boxes.”

Cooper, the number one in Sir Bobby Robson's FA Cup and UEFA Cup-winning sides, was famed for his penalty-saving antics while at Town, stopping two in a 1-1 draw with Derby at Portman Road in March 1980. That season, 1979/80, Cooper kept out eight out of the 10 penalties he faced.

Photo: Matchday Images

SamWhiteUK added 22:28 - Sep 13 Good going, Slicks, nice work
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Markp68 added 23:20 - Sep 13 The game against Derby when Cooper saved the 2 pens was my first game at Portman Rd. Absolutely incredible to be there and see that and I seem to remember that Eric Gates scored a typical screamer as well
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alsagerblue added 05:31 - Sep 14 I am an Ipswich fan living in Alsager for the past 42 years. As Crewe is only some 6 miles away, the Alex are my‘Second Club’ and was at this match. I didn’t realise that Slicker was playing until I saw the Team Sheet just before the kickoff. From that moment onwards I had mixed emotions as although I wanted Crewe to win, I also wanted Slicker to play well, as indeed he did!!! I have never before seen any goalkeeper save 2 penalties inside 90 minutes; now I have witnessed an Ipswich goalie do so, even though the Town were not playing in the match I was actually watching!

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BeachBlue added 08:32 - Sep 14 Markp68 that was my first game too!
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Tellitasitis added 11:17 - Sep 14 I hope Westham start picking up points really quick as told by reliable source that Kieran Mckenna was in attendance at game in directors box, might be there just to watch a game of football but................
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Hong_Kong_Bluey added 15:17 - Sep 14 I was also at that game against Derby. Didn't Cooper actually save 3 penalties that day? I have a memory that one of the penalties was saved but retaken for some reason. Mind you, I was 9 and could have been making up my own memories. Can anybody recall the same or confirm that or not?
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armchaircritic59 added 19:26 - Sep 14 Tellitasitis, well if he was and I actually saw the match, the cameras never picked him up on the occasions they focused on the very resigned looking West Ham heirarchy ( I'm not disputing your " sources " account ), we have nothing to worry about!
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