Roberts On Vital Non-league Links

Brighton & Hove Albion first-team goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts spoke about the importance of maintaining good relationships with local non-league clubs, as Mathew Ryan and Tim Krul recently took part in a Facetime Q&A with Eastbourne Borough’s youth-team goalkeepers.

The Albion duo were quizzed by the young aspiring shot-stoppers on their respective journeys to the top of the game, and Roberts feels it was mutually beneficial for all concerned.

He said, “There were between 30 to 40 goalkeepers taking part in this course at Eastbourne and they got to ask Tim and Maty personal questions, albeit over Facetime, which was a good experience for both the keepers and the kids.

“The Eastbourne Borough first-team goalkeeping coach Dean Lightwood is a good friend of mine. He was an academy coach for me at Charlton and has also been an academy coach at Brighton alongside his day job.

“He pays a really good interest in goalkeepers’ development and he asked us to take part as a favour really. It’s a two-way thing.

“Having relationships like this is huge, because if Dean comes across a keeper that he feels has real potential, he’ll give me the heads up.

“We’ve also had Bailey Vose at Eastbourne Borough earlier on in the season playing games and getting experience there. Dean is someone who I really trust in the game and I trust his opinion. It’s huge for me to maintain those relationships.”

Roberts also praised the goalkeeping group at the club as a whole, and has been pleased to see a number of the academy keepers progressing well at various non-league clubs.

“Our whole goalkeeping group have been excellent on the training pitch and it’s going well on the field too. I’m really happy with how the season has gone.

“Away from the club, we’ve got Christian [Walton] at Wigan, Bailey Vose at Welling and George Bentley, a first-year scholar, has had two games in the Bostik League Premier Division.

“He had two games at Worthing and played in front of over 700 people, which you can’t replicate. For a young kid to play in front of that many people is brilliant.”