Shropshire Star

Record-breaker Will Norris wants more clean sheets for Wolves

Record-breaking goalkeeper Will Norris says Wolves will travel to Swansea with no fear – and spoke of his pride at his remarkable clean sheet record.

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No keeper in Wolves' history has gone this long without conceding a goal at the start of his career.

The 24-year-old has gone five matches – and 480 minutes off football – without letting a goal in from his one FA Cup and four Carabao Cup appearances.

For the 83rd keeper to don the gloves for Wolves, that's no mean feat.

But Norris, while proud of his efforts, was keen to play down his personal role in Wolves' cup exploits this season.

"I just do what I can when I pull on the shirt," he said.

"I’m just proud to keep clean sheets, I’m not looking too much at the record or making it out to be something it isn’t because we’ve got a great defence, it’s not just down to me, it’s the whole back five.

"I am pleased to get another one and hopefully I can keep racking them up.

"It’s obviously nice to get the credit but I definitely need to say the back five on Saturday were tremendous.

"I’m waiting patiently for my opportunity and when I do get it it’s just nice to keep clean sheets."

Wolves will travel to the Liberty Stadium next Wednesday (7.45pm) for their FA Cup third round replay after Saturday's 0-0 draw at Molineux. Victory will see them face Notts County away in round four.

Norris says Wolves will go to Wales full of confidence after edging the tie on Saturday.

https://youtu.be/t1JR0i1DJUw

"We won’t fear going there," he said. "We need to go everywhere with the attitude we can win.

"We did that against Manchester City and we did hold our own there. If we can do it there we can do it anywhere.

"We play a really good style of football. We go everywhere to win.

"We can’t impact on whether we’re favourites or not, all we can do is concentrate on ourselves and what we can bring to the table. It’s an extra game for players like myself and players who aren’t getting much of a look-in."

Wolves created several chances against the Swans but couldn't break the deadlock.

Norris felt they were the better team despite Ruben Vinagre's red card.

"I thought we did well when it was 11 v 11 and for the whole game really," he said.

"The sending off did change the dynamic but we kept our shape as a back three with the wing backs as well. It made the forward players do a bit more running but we’ve got the kind of group that want to do the hard yards for the team.

"When it was 10 v 10 I thought we go on and win it but we’ve got a replay and we’re still in the hat.

"I thought we had the better chances in the first half. Unfortunately we couldn’t put them away but the main things was we stayed in the game and I thought we defended really well.

"The objective was to stay in the hat, whether we came away with a win or a draw."

New signing Rafa Mir came off the bench to make his Wolves debut, playing the last 13 minutes in what was a lively cameo.

Norris has been impressed with the 20-year-old striker so far,

"He’s not been in the building long but from what I’ve seen in training he does have tremendous quality and brings something different to the group," the 24-year-old goalkeeper added.

"The boss has worked with him and knows what he’s about so he’s an exciting signing for us.

"From what I’ve seen he’s nippy and scored a few in training, he’s an exciting prospect."

* Until Norris, no Wolves goalkeeper had ever kept more than three successive clean sheets in his opening matches for the club.

John Burridge kept seven clean sheets in his first eight Wolves appearances in 1982/83, but conceded one in his first game.

The next best starts are held by Mark Kendall (four clean sheets in first five appearances, 1986/87), Hans Segers (five clean sheets in first seven, 1997/98) and Carl Ikeme (four clean sheets in first five, 2005 onwards).