Scott Carson has made a couple of standout saves in recent games.
There was the one at Middlesbrough last month as he denied Britt Assombalonga from close-range early doors and his most recent came on Saturday when he turned away Ike Ugbo’s strike from six-yards with another instinctive ‘reaction’ save.
“It was just a reaction and thankfully he was close enough to me that I was able to react to it and get enough on it,” Carson told RamsTV.
“The ball went past the post and meant there was no chance of a tap in for someone! On that occasion, we lost the ball in midfield, they broke on us and it got pulled back for their striker.
“It was very similar to Vyds’ goal, but he made the most of his opportunity. I was given half a chance and I have stuck my hand out and managed to get it out of danger.”
Like the Assombalonga stop, his latest stunning stop has contributed to another winning performance.
Andreas Weimann’s first goal of the season backed up first half finishes from Tom Lawrence and Matej as Gary Rowett’s men cruised to a 3-0 win at Oakwell.
Rowett spoke afterwards about how it was just as important to earn another clean sheet and whilst Carson is pleased to be making saves like those, he’s happier that is contributing to winning performances and consistent shutouts.
The 32-year-old said: “I would love to make one of them saves every single game!
“They don’t really come along that often, but thankfully over the last couple of weeks I have had a couple and they have been at stages in the game that have been important and we have gone on to win.
“In my opinion, that makes them 100 times better. It’s alright making them when you are losing games and teams are on top of you for the whole game.
“When you get the rewards of the three points in the end that makes so much sweeter.”
The Rams’ latest win on the road, which extends their unbeaten run on the road to seven matches, lifted the club up to fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table.
At this moment, Carson believes Derby are showing everything that is needed for a perfect away victory and, in particular, has praised the quality that the frontline are showing at crucial times in games.
“We’re a lot harder to beat,” he said. “In between our blocks of four, there isn’t a lot of room for opposition teams.
“The last two away games have been very similar. We seem to be doing everything at the moment. It wasn’t pretty, but we stayed in the game despite having a sluggish start.
“We know we have got a lot of quality goalscorers in the team, players who don’t need much of an opportunity to get a goal, and they showed that again today.
“On the balance of play, I don’t think we deserved to come in at half-time two goals up.
“We made sure we stayed in the game and just made it hard for them to get at us. When we got the chances, our quality has shown through.”
