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Gilmartin vows to bounce back
Tuesday 9th March 2010, 11:50AM GMT.
Walsall goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin has vowed to return stronger and pledged to learn from his nightmare comeback to the team.
The 22-year-old has endured a torrid time in two games since replacing Clayton Ince – shipping five at Southampton before gifting Steve Morison a goal in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Millwall.
Now the Saddlers go to Leyton Orient this weekend aiming to improve a run of just three wins in 15 games with Gilmartin vowing his howler will make him a better player.
He said: “When you make mistakes you can either hide and go into your shell or learn from them and move on. That’s what I’ll do.
“I’ve made mistakes before and, like all footballers, will make mistakes in the future. It’s about how you react and I’ll react in the right manner.
“It was a misjudgement from me. I’m a young keeper and I will make mistakes but it’s about learning and bouncing back. I was gutted for myself, the team and the fans.
“You don’t want to do it but these things happen in football.”
Gilmartin’s mix-up with Jamie Vincent gifted Millwall a route back into the game as the Lions came back from 2-0 down.
But the player insists his confidence hasn’t been hit after learning to deal with any criticism and owning up to errors.
He said: “Goalkeepers need to be thick-skinned because one mistake can result in a goal. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say you made a mistake.
“I’ve done that and now it’s time to look forward rather than back. I always go out there and give 100% and I’ve made a mistake but that doesn’t mean I’m not giving 100%.
“It is hard to take but this is a new week now. I’ve spoken to our goalkeeping coach Mick Kearns about a few things and I’ve taken his comments on board.”
Gilmartin replaced Ince in the 5-1 drubbing at Southampton last week – his first game since October – and believes Kearns’ influence is crucial.
He said: “Having Mick is massive for me. The work I’ve done with Mick has got me back in the team. I have to look at what I can take out and improve on that.”
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Rubbish Meat Neck – you are not fit to to wear the shirt.
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I believe he can be a good goalie which he showed before he got injured, all our young players have gone on to be more than capable, some taking longer than others,but they have all been accused of been unfit to wear the shirt some time or other .
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Hold on…ALL our young players have gone on to be MORE than capable…?
Err…thats a rather bold statement.
Im trying to think of players that have not ‘made the grade’ at Walsall, got released and have then gone on to play at an equivalent or higher level…there aint many!
- Karl Hawley – a victim of our success at the time
- Clive Platt – a victim of the fact Ricketts was coming through
- Ishmel Demontagnac – not really a product of our youth system, he got kicked out of Charlton didnt he?
- Mark Wright
YET the list of those who havent made the grade, yet have been first team pros in recent years is endless:
- Taiwo Atieno
- Johnny Harkness
- Gavin Caines
- Leroy Williams
- Dean Coleman
- Daryl Taylor
- Kris Taylor
- David McDermott
- Jay Sytzbel
- Nathan Jameson
- Sean Platt
- and so on…
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I suspect you could produce a list like that for every club in the country. I’m sure Man Utd and Liverpool could produce pages of names who didn’t make it at their level and dropped down to play at lower levels. At the end of the day 8 out of 16 on duty last week were ‘home-grown’.
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Hey rene! Are you cheeks always red due to the embarrassment of all the goalkeeping blunders you have made at your time at the Bescot? No seriously, I had a lot of patience for him in the past; I was always the first to say “Give him time, he will get good” but now i’m not so sure anymore. Okay at 22 he’s still young and inexperienced, but a few of them blunders are down to confidence. If I was to give him some advice; go watch some Peter Schmeichel videos; see how much passion he has and how much shouting he does at the defenders infront of him. I think that’s probably something we need right now.
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how good is ince then ?
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