Latics boss salutes young keeper

joel coleman: the young ’keeper has made the No.1 jersey his own after a string of impressive displays.

RISING star Joel Coleman has been described as “the perfect pupil” by his manager Dean Holden.

The 19 year old, from Bolton, kept his third clean sheet in another man-of-the-match display against Chesterfield.

It was his eighth straight start as he continues to keep on-loan Blackburn goalkeeper Jake Kean out of Holden’s line-up.

The faith shown in first-year pro Coleman is as a result, Holden says, of an impeccable training-ground attitude. The manager hopes other aspiring young players can follow his lead.

Coleman’s distribution against the Spireites was as sharp as his shot-stopping. “He’s been brilliant,” Holden said. “He is such a mature lad for his age. He is different and I like him for that. He isn’t like a lot of lads who come through academies nowadays. He has got that working-class mentality, as I’d describe it. He comes in every day and strives to get better — it’s as simple as that..

“On the bench, we also had Jack Tuohy and Devante Jacobs, and Jordan Bove came on. It doesn’t scare me at all putting them on. You know what you will get.

“Clubs like ours have to do it like that, developing the likes of Joel and Carl Winchester. They need that faith shown in them.

“When I got in the team at Bolton, was I the best player? No. But the manger showed faith and had confidence in me .You grow from there.”

Holden had to deal with eight absentees against Chesterfield. Injured were long-term-injured Jonathan Forte and Joseph Mills, along with Conor Wilkinson, Genseric Kusunga and Amari Morgan-Smith.

Dominic Poleon, Jacob Mellis and Rhys Turner missed out through illness. The lack of forward options saw Rhys Murphy as main striker. Holden believes things will start to fall soon for the ex-Dagenham man.

“He works his socks off,” Holden added. “You see it on the pitch and I see it in training where he is always demanding to do extra work. If he keeps working as hard as he is behind the scenes, he will get his success. I am a firm believer in that.”

twitter: @Matt_Chambers_