Nick's homework all for nought!

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Colgan was happy to be put on the spot

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">May 29 2006

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">

 </p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Paul Abbandonato, Western Mail

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><place w:st="on"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">BARNSLEY</span></place><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New""> goalkeeper Nick Colgan revealed the planning he had put into the penalty shoot-out which saw his team triumphant at the Millennium Stadium.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Colgan saw Adebayo Akinfenwa put his spot-kick over the bar, while he blocked Alan Tate's shot to ensure <place w:st="on">Barnsley</place> won the play-off final.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Colgan said afterwards, &quot;I do make a point of watching what every potential penalty taker in this division does.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;In the build-up, I worked out which five players would take penalties for <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city>, where they were likely to put them and what I would do for each of them.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;Trouble is, three of the players I picked were Leon Knight, Andy Robinson and Rory Fallon - and they were off the pitch by then!

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;Only Lee Trundle, of the five I expected, actually took a penalty. So much for the homework I had put in, eh!

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;But look, I just worked on the basis that the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> players were the ones under pressure not me. They had to score. Anything I did was a bonus.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;Akinfenwa had a bit of a stutter before taking his and I was happy to see the shot go over the bar.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;Then I had a little bit of luck in stopping Tate's effort, just managing to get my legs in the way.&quot;

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">Colgan went on, &quot;It's fair to say I was a very happy and very relieved man at that point.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;I didn't need anyone to tell me I had made a mistake for Andy Robinson's second goal for <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> and that I needed to make amends.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;Once it went to penalties, I thought 'This is my chance, I've got to take it.' We had practised penalties a lot as a team in the build-up to this game, just in case it went the whole distance.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;I didn't stop many during that practice, so I worked on the basis I would do it when it mattered.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;Equally, because our players kept putting them so easily past me, I had every confidence they would score when it came to the real thing against the <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> goalkeeper.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;I was convinced that if I could stop at least one <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Swansea</place></city> effort, we would score enough to win it.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;I've had quite a bit of success with penalties in the past two seasons, so I was confident.

</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: "Courier New"">&quot;I actually stopped three in a row last year, but the referees involved ordered every one of them to be retaken. I've stopped a few this season, too, so I suppose it was there for me to do it on the biggest stage of the lot.&quot;

</span></p>