Tim simply superb

Latics goalkeepr Paul Rachubka writes every week for Chron Sport
IT was a relief to finally get past Barnsley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday.

The pressure on goalkeepers is slightly different in penalty shoot-outs. We can’t really lose as the strikers are expected to score.

It was disappointing to concede late in the game and that did take some of the wind out of our sails, but credit to the lads who scored our penalties as it gives us another chance to kick on in the competition.

We should have won comfortably and scored more goals, but the manager was pleased as he had changed a few things around - not really a plan ‘B’, but we went into Tuesday’s game with a slightly different mentality and some lads got the chance to step off the bench and show what they’re all about.

In the end it was a good performance overall, because again we got the preparation right.

I was pleased for Michael Tidser and Timothee Dieng. Tim was fantastic in front of me, while James Dayton got another chance and showed plenty of quality.

In this competition last season we lost on penalties, so we put that right on Tuesday and hopefully we can go much further in the competition now.

So it’s back to League One business tomorrow against Walsall and though overall we’re happy with how it’s gone so far this season, we still feel we can do better. We can use our great surface again this weekend. Credit to the groundsmen for getting it in such superb condition.

It’s a pitch conducive to the way we play our football. It suits us and hopefully we can get another three points on it.