His teammates have never been in any doubt about Ethan Horvath’s talent - and Scott McKenna is pleased the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper is now getting a chance to show it.
Horvath made only his fourth appearance for the Reds on Tuesday night, and his first since September, as he replaced the suspended Brice Samba between the posts.
The American kept a clean-sheet as the visitors came away with a point from their trip to Preston North End, pulling off some strong saves to secure the shut-out.
It went some way to banishing memories of his last outing, when a tough night against Middlesbrough in September ended with a 2-0 defeat and former manager Chris Hughton getting the sack.
And Horvath is likely to keep his place for the next two games, against Bristol City and Sheffield United, as Samba serves the remainder of his ban.
“I thought he was absolutely excellent,” said McKenna. “When teams are putting pressure on you, putting crosses into the box and corners into the box, he was so commanding. Whether he came and caught them or came and punched them, it just took the pressure off us.
“His distribution was excellent at times as well.
“We’ve trained with him for a long time now. He’s a good communicator and is always talking, so it was simple to play in front of him.
“It should definitely give him confidence, getting a clean-sheet. But we all know how good a goalkeeper he is - he’s an international for his country.
“We all knew what he was capable of. He’s just been unfortunate that Brice has been so good this season.
“He got his chance the other night, and I thought he took it.”
The stalemate at Deepdale was a second successive draw for Steve Cooper’s side, who have dropped to 10th in the table, five points below the play-off spots.
They will aim to get back to winning ways against the Robins on Saturday as they look to build momentum before the international break next month.
“We do need to look at this block of fixtures. But first and foremost, it’s the old cliche of looking at it one game at a time,” McKenna said.
“When the games do come so thick and fast, you’ve only got a couple of days to prepare, so you do need to focus fully on the next game and the opposition you’re coming up against.
“We’ve got five or six games until the next international break, and we’ll be looking to take maximum points from them and try to progress in the FA Cup.
“No matter what, it’s always going to be tight. Even after that block of games, there’s still going to be a lot of teams around and about the play-off spots.
“It’s very competitive. If you go on a run of two or three wins, it shoots you right up the table. Two draws and you can drop a couple of places, just because it is so tight and competitive.
“It’s getting to the stage of the season where games start to run out pretty quickly, so you can’t afford to slip up.
“It’s important we do try to keep the momentum and try to keep building as a team.
“The fans can make a difference, like they have the last few times at the City Ground. The noise they make drives us on and inspires us. We try to feed off that as much as we can.”
