Davey: Muller gambit worthwhile January 29 2008 Barnsley manager Simon Davey admitted his gamble to send out goalkeeper Heinz Muller for the second half paid off. Striker Jon Macken marked his return to Oakwell with the game's solitary goal in first-half stoppage-time to halt the Tykes' recent slide down the Championship table. But Davey was as grateful to big German goalkeeper Muller for playing on despite sustaining a first-half knee injury as he was the former Derby striker, who Barnsley signed on a permanent basis yesterday for an undisclosed six-figure fee. Davey 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." Substitute striker Istvan Ferenczi was ready to replace Muller, who injured himself while blocking a first-half corner, but Davey was relieved not to have to call on the Hungarian. "No, he's crap. If he'd have been out there people would have been asking why I changed the keeper. "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. "I don't think Stan (Ferenczi) would have got to them, so it was a good decision." Davey was naturally delighted with Macken's goalscoring return. He added: "That's why we wanted John five or six weeks ago. "We haven't won a league game since he left and I've been chasing him for a month now. "I was disappointed when Derby called him back, but he was in the Premier League then. Now he's back and we're happy about that." Colchester manager Geraint Williams felt the game was there for the taking and his side was punished for squandering several chances. Williams also admitted Muller made the difference - but he was not convinced the Tykes keeper was seriously injured. Williams said: "We had two or three very good chances and didn't take any of them and got caught with a suckerpunch 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."
He didn't look much good when he was warming up at half time. Would have loved to have seen Stan in the nets just for comedy value. He was chomping at the bit to get on!
Putting three strikers on the bench is a 'calculated gamble'? I think Davey should enrol in remedial gambling classes.
