I for one am delighted that Lonners is doing well and that the Leed's fans have taken to him and recognised that he is a good keeper. It was the right time for him to move after being at his home town club since being a youngster, PNE fans tended to be split on his abilities as a keeper but I think that the majority could see what a fine keeper he is. Unfortunately for him he had to play behind a constantly changing back four and confidence throughout the team was very poor, and some fans saw him as an easy target (being a local born player) when apportioning blame etc. I think it fair to say that he lost confidence as well and PNE didn't have a reserve keeper who could come in and give Lonners a rest. He was one of PNE's top earners and the decision to sell him was more a financial one than a footballing one, due to PNE being in financial trouble. His weakness tended to be not coming off his line and was occasionaly caught napping by long distance shots, but his shot stopping was brilliant and fans tend to forget just how many times he kept the score down under Junior red nose. He was a gift to Leeds for what they had to pay for him but his sale has allowed other players to be brought in to PNE once his earnings were off the books. I am sure that he wont let Leeds down and I wish him all the best in his footballing future..
The thing is aswell that in Schmeichel before we had a keeper who was a great shot stopper but could be very poor with the basics; catching crosses etc. which is something I've heard PNE fans say was also a problem with Lonergan, but he's been excellent in those areas so far. Looks a much safer pair of hands than Kasper and seems to instill far more confidence in our back 4.
That's good news Simon, After Junior red nose came in, the PNE goalkeeping coach was replaced by one of his, and although Lonners could get caught out at times prior to this change it was noticeable that he was worse after the junior red nose coach came on board. Lonners is still relatively young as keepers go, and although some wont agree I think that with the right coach and a disciplined back four in front of him he will improve in this area of goalkeeping. Supporters have short memories some times and it is unfortunate that his qualities have been overlooked by some. I would love Lonners to go on and prove the doubters wrong....I cant recall any PNE team being as clueless when defending as they were under Junior red nose, and I think any keeper would have suffered a loss of confidence under those circumstances.
It was a brilliant change last night to hear Gordon McQueen saying "And Hull put the corner in.... brilliantly taken by Andy Lonergan" where Kasper would most probably have dropped it to a Hull player for a goal and then shouted at the defence .
