Joey Barton has tipped Jed Ward to be a future number-one for Bristol Rovers after the teenager impressed in just his second league start for the Gas on Saturday.
Despite coming out on the losing side in a 2-0 defeat to Port Vale at Vale Park, the 19-year-old academy graduate looked assured in goal and stood up to the physical and technical demands of playing in the third tier.
Ward had to wait almost two years between his first and second league appearances for Rovers after debuting on the final day of the 2020/21 season at Blackpool, and it remains to be seen when his next outing for Barton's side will be.
But it is clear that a spell on loan with Hungerford Town in the National League South this season has done the Bradley Stoke lad the world of good and Barton was pleased with what he saw as Ward stepped in for James Belshaw in the Potteries.
"I thought he was superb and it was an opportunity to get another look at him," the Rovers manager said. "With a crowd in, it’s an invaluable experience for Jed and he didn’t look out of place.
"You wouldn’t have thought we had a young keeper making his second league start. He was really competent and I don’t think he could do much about either goal.
"He kicked really well and his decision-making was really good, even when he came out in the second half at 2-0 with that counter-attack. He kept his discipline and composure really well, it would have been easy for a young keeper to be a bit rash there.
"But he showed the belief and talent we think he has got by performing at the level he did. I’m really pleased with him."
After Barton experimented with Ward between the posts at Vale, Belshaw is expected to regain his place for at least the next two games as Rovers face Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday and Peterborough United on Saturday, with both sides chasing promotion in the final stretch of the season.
But the Rovers boss expects big things from Ward – who was called up for an England under-18 training squad after he made his debut at Bloomfield Road in 2021 – when his time comes in the years ahead.
"He’s a top keeper, he’s going to be a top keeper," Barton said. "He just needs a little bit of time. Like all good racehorses, if you throw them in too soon, some come to hand a lot quicker, your Wayne Rooney types who are men at 15 and 16. Obviously, everybody else is on a sliding scale from that.
"Jed is definitely one for the future for the Gas. I think he’s going to be a future number one and, from our perspective, you want to give him that exposure and that experience.
"He’s more than acquitted himself and showed what a good goalkeeper he is. He will be disappointed he hasn’t kept a clean sheet, but I’m not sure he could do much about the two goals and we have to defend that as a team better."
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