Shot-stopper pleased with start to his Wanderers career
Ben Alnwick is determined to make the most of his opportunity as Wanderers’ first choice goalkeeper in the absence of the injured Mark Howard.
After coming off the bench to make his Whites league debut against former club Peterborough United, the shot-stopper has kept successive clean sheets as Bolton clinched back-to-back home victories over Millwall and Coventry City.
And having produced a number of important saves to in Tuesday night’s shut-out against the Sky Blues to help earn the Trotters clinch a hard-fought 1-0 victory, Alnwick is eyeing more of the same against Northampton Town on Saturday.
“It’s been a perfect start and it’s obviously what you aim for as a goalkeeper,” the 29-year-old told the Club’s website. “I’ve made a few saves whereas Saturday's win was more down to the lads defending really well.
“The gaffer said at half-time if we don’t get that second goal just don’t lose this second half. If it means digging deep and drawing the second half then at least we know we’ll have won the game.
“The defending in front of me is brilliant to watch and everyone is pulling in the same direction.
“If we can help each other out week by week then we’ll keep adding to the clean sheets.”
Alnwick continued: “It was really unfortunate Mark got injured and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but for me now it’s about taking your chance.
“In 13 years of being a goalkeeper I’ve never had to come off the bench, so it was a bit of a surprise.
“That’s why you have to keep yourself in decent shape and keep training hard, so when your chance comes, you can have a real good go at it.”
With seven wins from the previous eight games, Wanderers currently find themselves sitting third in Sky Bet League One position.
Impressed by what he has seen since joining the Whites, the former England youth international believes Phil Parkinson’s men have the quality to maintain their current form as they look to battle for promotion.
“It has been brilliant so far. We have a real good set of lads here, a good manager and good coaching staff so I think the negativity of last season around the Club’s relegation has gone now,” Alnwick concluded.
“To get the chance to move to a club like Bolton whether it’s to come in as a number one or to fight it out was a no-brainer.
“When you’re happy at home you will play and train better so it was the perfect decision.
“There’s some good teams in this division but I think with the quality in our dressing room and the size of the squad it would be a shame if we weren’t right up there at the end of the season.”