A brilliant week for Freddie Woodman but loan boss indicates he may soon be dropped
Freddie Woodman has played eight games in a row for Aberdeen and arguably has just enjoyed the best week so far of his second half of the season loan spell.
Saturday saw another confident display from the Newcastle loan keeper, making a vital save when the game was goalless, Aberdeen going on to win 1-0 against Dundee.
This result lifts them to only two points behind second placed Rangers and with a game in hand.
Midweek had seen even more drama.
A cup quarter-final replay at Kilmarnock going to extra-time and then penalties, with Freddie Woodman saving three of the five to be hero of the hour and send his loan team through to one step off the final.
However, Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes, who almost joined Sunderland in the summer, has indicated that despite his form, Woodman could now find his place under threat.
The Newcastle keeper was brought in principally due to first choice keeper Joe Lewis being injured.
Now though, McInnes says his first choice goalkeeper has made better progress than expected and he may well have a difficult choice to make when selecting his goalkeeper for the next match, at home to St Johnstone on 31 March.
Derek McInnes:
“That’s brilliant news for us, having Joe back on the training pitch has been a real bonus and ahead of schedule slightly.
“Joe’s trained the last couple of days and potentially might play an under 20s game next week.
“Freddie Woodman has done very well for us.
“For the young boy to come in and show the confidence he has shown, he had a big part to play in the result the other night (when saving 3 penalties to reach Cup semi-final).
“And, at 0-0 (against Dundee on Saturday), whether the boy A-Jay Leitch-Smith is offside or not, he (Freddie Woodman) keeps good concentration.
“He is very good at keeping himself big and getting that timing right and he made a very important save for us.
“If that goes in, it makes our task that much more difficult, we then go up and score and, after that, we were very confident and assured.
“It has been a good week for us and look forward to the semi-final, but we want to try to go into it in good form.
“We’ve got three very challenging games in a week after we come back.
“We’ve got seven away on international duty, which is as many as we’ve had in my time here, and hopefully they come back in good nick and ready to attack the back end of the season.
“There were still be question marks, but it was a good solid win today and we’ve had loads of wins like that in my time here at this time of year, just getting the job done and keeping a clean sheet.
“Once that league split comes and that semi-final comes round, it will be very intense but also very enjoyable hopefully.”
If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk