Barnsley manager Simon Davey singled out his goalkeeper Heinz Muller after he defied injury to help his side to a win over Colchester.
Barnsley boss hails his injured hero
Barnsley manager Simon Davey singled out his goalkeeper Heinz Muller after he defied injury to help his side to a win over Colchester.
Jon Macken's goal was enough to secure Barnsley their first win in nine, but it was Muller that stole his manager's plaudits.
Davey was grateful to the big German keeper Muller for playing on despite sustaining a first-half knee injury.
He said: "He's done something to his knee. It feels a little bit unstable at the moment, we had him scanned at half-time, but there was no major damage that we could see.
"We had a few words about whether he should come back out for the second half and I won.
"It was one of those gambles. I put five outfield players on the bench. It's calculated gamble that might have backfired, but fortunately we've come away with the points."
Despite hobbling on one leg Muller pulled off outstanding saves to deny Phil Ifil's stinging first-half drive and then Adam Virgo's goalbound volley in the second period.
Davey said: "Fair play to Heinz. We needed him in there. At 6ft 6in he has a presence and he pulled off two good saves."
Missed chances
Colchester manager Geraint Williams was left to rue his side's inability to take their chances.
Williams said: "We had two or three very good chances and didn't take any of them and got caught with a sucker punch in first-half injury-time.
"In the second half we were a little bit disappointed because I didn't think we created as much as we should have.
"Kevin Lisbie's had a great chance, Adam Virgo got in and the keeper made another great save, while Dean Gerken didn't have a shot to save apart from picking the ball out of the net.
"To be honest I thought the injured keeper made three or four excellent saves.
"I don't quite know what his injury is. I hope it's nothing too serious and I don't think it really is.
"But he's a hero, he played up to the crowd and they loved it, so good luck to him."
