The Goalkeeping Question

Despite being one of the most successful goalkeepers in the clubs history, breaking records for both appearances and clean sheets, there is still much debate over whether Alan Marriott should be offered a new contract this summer.

I, for one said at the start of this year that perhaps we needed to sign someone as genuine competition, as this would improve Alan as a goalkeeper.

No one was signed and Marriott started the season as our automatic 1st choice keeper, and it wasn’t until results had got so bad that the two Johns were sacked that is place was called into question.

One of the first things PJ did when he took over was sign Ben Smith on loan from Doncaster, a 22 year old goalkeeper. He started off solidly enough, but a number of errors culminating in a clanger away at Grimsby saw him shipped back to his parent club and Marriott reinstated.

Mazza has since been the first choice, his run of games in the first team only ended when he got injured at Chester. He was inspirational in some of the games during the winning streak in February, and has looked solid ever since being reinstated.

Ayden Duffy has replaced him, and although he has never played a league game before has impressed many watchers with his strong, authoritative command of his area – something that Mazza has never done.

So, do Lincoln offer Marriott a contract, offer Duffy a contract, or offer them both contracts or indeed neither of them? I still believe that Marriott needs competitions to perform to his best – just like when we had Paul Pettinger or Simon Rayner (both very competent goalies). If Marriott is to be offered a new contract, therefore, I don’t feel it can be as a definite number one, so can Duffy provide adequate cover? His performances in the last couple of weeks certainly suggest so, but would PJ start them both off on an equal footing? Perhaps the best thing to do would be to offer Duffy a new contract, and find another more experienced keeper to contest the place with him? Or offer Marriott the contract and try to persuade somebody of similar ilk to himself to join the club?

However, what the Ben Smith experiment showed was that there aren’t a lot of better keepers than Marriott around who would be both a) available and b) willing to come to Lincoln, so perhaps the best option is indeed to sign them both on again for next season, but with neither as the assured number one – giving Marriott real competition.