Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna insisted he had no hesitation in picking Arijanet Muric at Brighton despite a turbulent week for the goalkeeper.
Muric was one of three players sent home early from the Kosovo squad last week for an alleged breach of their rules.
But the 25-year-old summer signing from Burnley went from international zero to Ipswich hero by securing his side a point from a goalless draw on the south coast with a stunning double save.
Muric dived to his right to keep out Georginio Rutter’s shot from eight yards out, and then picked himself back up off the deck to somehow deny Kaoru Mitoma a tap-in at the far post.
McKenna said: “He showed exactly why we wanted to bring him to the football club. Finding a keeper who can win you points is massive and he is a match-winning goalkeeper.
“He’s still young. He needs help, support and patience at times, but he’ll get all that here.
“I had no reservations. I had a good chat with him and he talked me through the situation as he saw it, which is different than some of the other versions.
“Look, he’s our player. The most important thing is when he is with us, and having him back for an extra couple of days’ training was a bonus to be honest and helped him put in a really good performance today.”
Muric’s heroics meant Ipswich doubled their points tally for the season, although they almost snatched an unlikely win through a Liam Delap solo effort.
Delap, who scored a stunner against Fulham in Town’s last outing, almost had another goal-of-the-season contender when he ran the length of the pitch, outpacing Yasin Ayari and Jan Paul van Hecke, before clipping his angled shot against the far post.
“It was an incredible run, really, and with his goal last week if he’d scored that he’d have become pretty iconic,” added McKenna.
Brighton were the dominant side, especially in the first half, but they were guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net with Rutter, Yankuba Minteh and Danny Welbeck all opting to pass when a shot looked more profitable.
“I thought my team did everything to win this game, we had enough chances to win, we were very dominant and that’s why it feels disappointing,” said boss Fabian Hurzeler.
“But I never judge my team by results but by performance. With the performance I was happy.
“They had one transitional moment in 90 minutes and they defended with 10 men so we needed to find solutions.
“I can’t go in the locker room and say ‘you should do this, this and this’. I only judge them on performances.
“We have to create more chances and use the chances we have. I’m sure long-term if we play with this intensity we will be successful.”
