Our new goalkeeper Alex Bass credited those in front of him after keeping a clean sheet on his competitive Dons debut.
Alex, on a season-long loan from Championship club Sunderland, pulled off a series of vital saves to earn us a point on the opening day at Blundell Park. However, he acknowledged, in particular, the centre-back pairing of Alex Pearce and Joe Lewis, with Ryan Johnson playing out of position as a makeshift left-back.
Alex said: “There were a couple of injuries at left back, which came up at the wrong time for Lee Brown and Jack Currie. It’s a real shame, but it showed the versatility that we’ve got across the back that even boys not playing in their preferred positions can still do a job there. It was great to come away with a clean sheet.
“The whole defensive unit worked really hard, it’s not just the goalkeeper who takes the credit though. The defenders in front of me have a lot of pride in clean sheets. It’s something we can really look to build on and hopefully keep many more.”
Alex also backed striker Ali Al-Hamadi to bounce back quickly from having his penalty saved in the second half, ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup tie at home to Coventry City.
“I don’t think we need to dwell on our penalty being saved too much,” added Alex. “Ali took the responsibility to step up and take it and unfortunately for us, their keeper made a good save and there’s nothing you can do.
“Ali will come back from it, he’s a great player and even in training you see little bits from him that are very impressive. We’ll need him this season and obviously I’m gutted for him, but we’ll all get around Ali and he’ll be back next week.”
Alex put his smooth transition to life with us down to his fellow goalkeepers, led by Coach Ashley Bayes.
“Bayzo is infectious!” said Alex. “I say that to him every day. The energy that he brings to the group is absolutely brilliant. Long may it continue, because I’m really enjoying working with him and hopefully we’ll have a successful season together.
“The keepers here get on really well. It’s a weird environment as a goalkeeper. You’re with each other 24/7 almost. You really do get to become quite friendly and Tans and Broomy have both been great supporting me. We push each other to get the best out of ourselves every day.”
Photos: Simon Davies (Pro Sports Images).