Black Stars first choice goalkeeper Richard Kingson’s debut for Wigan ended in defeat even though he pulled off some excellent saves that drew rave review with the UK press.
The 33-year-old was in action on Friday night as they lost 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup action.
He joined the Lactics after Birmingham were relegated from the Premier League in 2007/2008 and has played second fiddle to Chris Kirkland.
Kingson brought down Spurs attacker Fraizer Campbell seven minutes into the second half after he raced through and took the ball around.
Pavlyuchenko took the spot-kick and sent Kingson the wrong way, his eighth of the season after arriving from Spartak Moscow.
Even though the game ended in misery for Kingson he would be pleased with the post-match performance analysis from the media.
Goal.com rated the Ghana keeper to have scored above-average. Their analysis of his performance reads: “Kingson made a number of clean saves in the first half. He was unlucky to have clipped Campbell with his palm to give away the penalty. He made up for it moments later by denying the youngster with an absolutely breathtaking acrobatic save. At fault for the third goal, this was academic.” The BBC said in its match report that:”O’Hara’s weak cross rebounded fortunately to Modric, who turned and shot on instinct, forcing Kingson into a low save. “Pavlyuchenko buried the penalty-kick confidently low and left and minutes later almost set up a second goal for Campbell, whose header was this time brilliantly saved by Kingson.”
The Financial Times said: “The same trio figured in perhaps the best moment of the game four minutes later as Pavlyuchenko crossed from the right and Campbell bulleted an acrobatic header that Kingson did brilliantly to beat away from the goal.”
This a good beginning for Kingson but he must prevent picking balls from his net to ensure that he features regularly in their matches.