Young goalkeeper Tom King has spoken of how this season at Millwall has been pleasantly surprising for him.
Having found himself between the sticks for all four of the EFL Trophy games as he continued his own development, as well as the League Cup tie with Nottingham Forest, the player made his Football League debut in the scoreless draw with Chesterfield back on February 21 following injury to Jordan Archer, and since then he’s played the last four games straight, conceding only one goal.
Speaking about his maiden Football League bow and how he was ‘thoroughly enjoying’ himself at the club, he told the official site.
‘Naturally, I would have loved to play more first team games by now, because that has to be the ambition of any player. But, I am thoroughly enjoying my time at Millwall and up to this point, my job has been to encourage and support Jordan, whilst making sure I’m ready whenever the opportunity arises. All the goalkeepers here, along with Kevin Pressman, our coach, are very supportive of each other. It was obviously disappointing for Jordan to pick up an injury in the middle of such a great run of clean sheets, but he sent me a message the day before the Chesterfield game and he was also in the dressing room encouraging me on the night.’
Speaking more about his League One debut despite having already made his club debut earlier in the season, King went on to admit that given it was the league campaign it obviously left him nervous as it’s slightly different than cup matches, but since then he’s a lot more comfortable ahead of kick offs.
‘Making your League debut is a big occasion even though I’d already played a few first team games this season. Getting a few early touches helped settle the nerves and the longer the game went on, the more comfortable I felt. This is what you dream of as a kid and I will relish every opportunity I get from now on.’
He ended by saying.
‘My mindset from here is to keep doing my job to the best of my ability and to give the manager something to think about when Jordan is fit again. We are the best of friends, but we are also competing with each other for that one place in the side. If we spur each other on to play better, then that will be of benefit to the team as well. Whichever one of us is in the team at any given time, the other will be his number one supporter.’
King Reflects On His 2016/17 So Far
