Club News

Myhill happy to fill in for Foster

Wales international delighted to play part in success - and pays tribute to No.1

BOAZ Myhill was delighted to help Albion secure a 2-1 at Wigan on Saturday – but insists he has a long way to go before he can be considered a genuine challenger to Baggies No.1 Ben Foster.

The Wales international, who spent last season on loan in the Championship at Blues, made his first Barclays Premier League appearance in almost 21 months at the DW stadium.

He could now face European champions Chelsea on Saturday (ko 3pm) if Foster fails to recover from a minor groin operation in time.

But, whatever happens at the weekend, Myhill expects to be handing the gloves back to Foster sooner rather than later and has paid tribute to the former Manchester United keeper.

“I prepared all week knowing I would have a chance to play in the game at the weekend and all I can say is that I took the head coach’s words as I left the dressing room on board,” he said.

“He said ‘enjoy it’ and we all did. You can tell by the way we all played that everyone was in it together and it was a great team performance.

 “It’s a great club, there’s no question about that.

“The dressing room is full of great characters and I love working with Ben, Dean [Kiely] and Luke [Daniels], so I just keep my head down and keep working hard.

“And when I am needed to play, hopefully I can step in and play well as I did on Saturday.

“But, at the risk of sounding like I don’t want to play, Ben has been a top performer at this club for 18 months and, if I was him, I would expect it to take a lot more than this to get someone who has played as well as that out of the side.

“I enjoyed playing in a good side on Saturday and if I am needed again at the weekend I will try my best to perform well again.”

The 30-year-old stopper added: “When I went to Birmingham it was with a view to the club getting Ben but I was informed all the time that it was just for a season.

“I have come back and worked hard in pre-season, as everybody else has.

“I can have no complaints about not playing because we’ve got a top goalkeeper in Ben Foster.

“I am enjoying it and learning from training with him.

“He is someone I really get on with and respect so in many ways it’s an enjoyable environment to work in.”

After a season away from The Hawthorns, Myhill is impressed how the fifth-placed Baggies’ squad has developed in that time – and is happy to be part of it.

“The head coach has brought a few new ideas in but the team seems to be very solid and in a great run of form,” he said.

“Confidence breeds solidity and you can tell this is a side that is going to go places this season.

“But the minute you start looking ahead of yourselves you take your eye off the ball.

“We just need to keep on turning up and churning out performances like we have done.

“We have performed like that in recent weeks and lost the game so it’s a tough league.

“You can soon come unstuck if you take your eye off the ball - and we won’t do that.

“We’ve got a management team and coaching staff that won’t let us do it, and a modest group of players that keep working hard, as I’ve seen since I came back.”