TOWN fans have long loved goalkeepers. Look how many have won the player of the season award. Some are still legends, some were mediocre, even back then. Mildenhall, Talia, Evans, Downsborough, Digby, Digby, Digby... You get the idea.

So it isn’t surprising after Lawrence Vigouroux’s string of saves on Saturday that comparisons are being made with his predecessor, Wes Foderingham. However, that isn’t easy. Despite literally standing apart from the rest of the team, a goalkeeper’s contribution relies on others – to have shots, hit crosses or to defend their goal.

Vigouroux does stand apart, because at 9cm taller than Foderingham he also looks more comfortable on high balls. Except last season, six of the Premier League’s best ten ‘keepers on crosses were below average height for a PL goalkeeper. So is it really size that matters?

At the moment, Vigouroux also saves a higher percentage of shots than Foderingham did in his final season. But Town are conceding more shots this season and shipping more goals, so does this also mean that Vigouroux is a better stopper but a worse defensive organiser?

Brian Clough understood that keepers were valuable as more than stoppers. "With [Peter] Shilton in goal, it gave everyone else more confidence,” he said. “It spread through the side. We were full of ourselves. The defenders felt safer, and the forwards thought if we could nick a goal, there was more than an evens chance the opposition wouldn’t score at the other end.”

Since Johan Cruyff called his keeper his “first attacker”, their role has expanded even beyond organisation. Thanks to the liberalisation of the offside law and the banning of the backpass, many goalkeepers have taken inspiration from Colombia’s Rene Higuita to use their feet as much as their hands.

Perhaps the best lesson to take from Higuita is that the world remembers ‘El Loco’ for his 1990 dribble, and slip, against Cameroon, not his league title or cup win. If Vigouroux want to follow the likes of Frank Talia onto Town’s legend list, he can make mistakes, but he needs to less memorable ones than those made by the ten in front of him.