View: West Ham No 2 Randolph impresses as Ireland suffer penalty heartache
West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph was in action for the Republic of Ireland on Thursday night as they suffered defeat in the European Championship play-offs against Slovakia.
Ireland managed to hold off the Slovakians in both normal time and extra time with the match finishing goalless after 120 minutes but two missed penalties by Alan Browne and Matt Doherty saw the Irish fail to qualify for next summer’s tournament.
Although it was a disappointing night for the boys in green, Randolph stood out as one of Ireland’s top performers.
The 33-year-old West Ham goalkeeper, according to stats by WyScout, made three saves to ensure he went into the penalty shoot-out with a clean sheet.
Randolph’s first save, to deny an effort by Ondrej Duda was arguably the pick of the bunch.
The former Birmingham and Middlesbrough goalkeeper had little time to react to the Koln forward’s powerful low drive as he was unsighted by one of his defenders but he still managed to get down low to palm the ball out of danger and away for a corner.
Randolph also had a more straightforward save to make from a long-range effort after the 90th minute had gone in normal time.
Even though the ball bounced in front of him, the Hammers number two still managed to hold onto the ball and ensure he didn’t gift Slovakia a late chance to win the match.
In the penalty shoot-out, Randolph didn’t make a single save but he dived the right way for two of the first three penalties he faced. Unfortunately, they were too good as they both went into the bottom corner, out of his reach.
The fourth penalty was a bit different as Slovakia’s Jan Gregus Panenka’d the ball past Randolph, who at first went to dive low to his right again before lifting himself up to try and palm the ball away. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quick enough to react but even the best goalkeepers in the world struggle to save penalties.
It was an impressive display by Randolph and while he’s unlikely to take the number one jersey off Lukasz Fabianski any time soon, it is good to know that the Ireland goalkeeper is in good form and will be ready to step up with the Polish shot-stopper ever gets injured again or suffers from a suspension.
In other West Ham news, Moyes is considering a move for QPR’s Ryan Manning.