Anthony Brown: History suggests Colin Doyle will keep Hearts gloves

As Hearts heroes such as Henry Smith and Gilles Rousset can testify, along with countless other accomplished goalkeepers from Scottish football’s past, banishing the negativity that inevitably follows a high-profile goal-costing error is rarely a straightforward task.
Colin DoyleColin Doyle
Colin Doyle

Colin Doyle will have had a difficult few days mulling over the ramifications of his freakish error that gifted Motherwell their winner at Fir Park on Sunday. Every goalkeeper in professional football will have at least one or two of those inexplicable moments on their CV, when something that should be so routine that they can do it with their eyes closed, suddenly proves, for a split-second in the heat of battle, to be beyond them. While a manager, a striker, a midfielder or a defender are more likely to get away with their one-off match-day aberrations, a goalkeeper will rarely be so lucky. When things go wrong for the man between the sticks, it tends to get messy. A goal is usually conceded and the mockery and criticism is quick to follow. The effect of a goalkeeping calamity can be exacerbated by various factors, such as the mistake proving decisive in the match and being beamed live on television. Unfortunately for Doyle, his misjudgment of David Turnbull’s tame free-kick happened in the full glare of BT Sport’s cameras and denied Hearts what would have been a well-deserved point away to one of the form teams in the country.

As is the way for goalkeepers, the Irishman’s stoppage-time error has overshadowed the fact he otherwise had a good game on Sunday in what was his tenth appearance for Hearts’ first team. In some quarters, all of the 33-year-old’s impressive work since he made his debut two months ago has been overridden by the memory of his Lanarkshire lapse.

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While an error as spectacular as the one that befell Doyle on Sunday will always prompt both ridicule and speculation over whether he will retain his place for the next match, the reality is that Doyle is a dependable Scottish Premiership-standard goalkeeper. The Republic of Ireland internationalist has made more than 200 career starts in England and has generally been an assured presence since replacing Zdenek Zlamal in Hearts’ starting lineup two months ago. In his ten first-team appearances so far, Doyle has kept six clean sheets and conceded only seven goals, two of which came on his debut away to Aberdeen at a time when the team were bereft of confidence.

Given his contribution to Hearts’ post-Christmas upturn in form (he was particularly impressive in the away wins over Hibs and Kilmarnock) the former Bradford City man is entitled to feel he has a bit of credit in the bank to help him survive this sticky period. He has already apologised and taken responsibility for his mistake and appears to have the required mentality to bounce back strongly.

Craig Levein told the Evening News today he is yet to decide who will face St Mirren this Saturday, but history suggests he will be of a mind to keep faith with Doyle. In September 2017, just a month into his reign as manager, he saw Jon McLaughlin, another experienced former Bradford City goalkeeper, allow a tame Blair Spittal shot to squirm meekly through his legs in a 1-1 draw away to Partick Thistle. McLaughlin, by that point, was yet to excel at Hearts and could easily have been cast aside as a dud. However, the manager kept him in the team and was rewarded with a string of top-class performances from a man who went on to earn Scotland recognition.

Similarly, Levein granted Zlamal a second chance in the wake of his howler in the Betfred Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic at Murrayfield in October. The Czech had been one of the top keepers in the country until he spilled Ryan Christie’s shot into James Forrest’s path, and Levein clearly felt he had done enough to keep his place even though Doyle was waiting patiently in the wings. As Hearts entered a collective dip in form thereafter, Zlamal, like all of his team-mates, lost some of his early authority and eventually lost his place following a poor display in the infamous 5-0 defeat at Livingston in December.

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Memories of Zlamal’s spectacular early-season form may be a factor for Levein as he mulls over who to pick for the visit of the Buddies this weekend. But the manager has been involved in football long enough to know that plenty goalkeepers have recovered strongly from the type of chastening experience Doyle will have endured this week.