The reliable, unflashy, unassuming Bentley

Matt Mundy looks at one of Southend United’s rising stars…

As a goalkeeper, you’ll be lucky to hold down a first-team place at a professional football club at the age of 25. It’s common, given the pressure of the position as the last line of defence, that the mantle is given to an experienced player.

That’s why a keeper’s career is often a slow burner, peaking in their 30s and, for the best ones, can still be flickering away at 40. Mark Schwarzer playing at Leicester City at the age of 42 is testament to that.

So for Daniel Bentley to be beginning his course in the game as Southend United’s number one at the age of 21 is some feat.

The 6ft 4in ‘keeper has cemented his place in the side since Phil Brown’s arrival in 2013 and is approaching 100 appearances for his home town club. No surprise, then, he is earning admiring glances from Premier League sides, with a move away linked when every transfer window comes round.

Brown said recently that keeping hold of his goalkeeper’s services was one of the successes of the January window.

“It’s always a difficult month, and I was delighted we resisted offers for Dan Bentley,” Brown told the club website.

That can’t carry on, though, especially if Bentley continues to produce impressive performances like he has done this season. It will also be a struggle if your assistant manager comes out and showers Bentley with praise like he did after the 2-0 victory over Cheltenham Town, which was Bentley’s seventh consecutive home clean sheet.

“Dan has been outstanding in the two years I have been here and you can count his mistakes on one finger,” Dave Penney told The Southend Evening Echo.

Whether Penney meant hand or could genuinely only recall one mistake is a trivial point. What’s not superficial is Bentley’s reliability beyond his years – or his character.

It was harsh on the academy graduate that he came in for criticism for a mistake that led to a Shrewsbury equaliser on Saturday. The Shrimpers were closing in on three points against a promotion rival away from home. Bentley was probably inexperienced for once in rising to the Twitter abuse and calling on the ‘trolls’ to explain themselves, instead of ignoring it. In his defence, he probably hasn’t had to deal with criticism before.

Bentley later deleted his tweets. What’s more encouraging is that he responded in the best way possible by keeping a clean sheet in the next match. That’s something he’ll learn to do more often, but for a youngster to show these signs now speaks volumes for his potential.

Penney added: “Personally, I don’t understand why people go on Twitter and listen to people like that who probably have’t got a clue what they are talking about.

“In my opinion Dan’s the best goalkeeper in this league and probably the league above as well. People should look and see what they’ve got and be very grateful for what they have between the sticks”. High praise indeed.

Bentley could be straight on the phone to his agent to get him a better deal after that level of endorsement. Better though would be to continue in the same vein that has been fruitful in his development as a goalkeeper.

Brown won’t be deluded to think the time won’t come when Bentley will be flattered enough to make a move to a bigger club and inevitably more money, so getting promotion this season will be the minimum if he hopes to keep hold of his star player.

That’s the way Bentley’s career is heading. The trajectory is certainly in an upward curve.

 

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