After spending years attempting to repel shots from the likes of Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspur, Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover is confident he has the mettle to move on from his A-League Melbourne derby howler.
The 22-year-old handed Melbourne Victory a goal in City's 2-1 win on Friday night when he fumbled Ola Toivonen's free kick into his own net.
"Goalkeepers, we're always going to make a mistake. It's only natural, it's part of the job but at the end of the day it's how you bounce back from those mistakes and move forward," Glover said on Wednesday.
"I had 12 minutes left in that game to deal with it and to get the three points, which we did. So I just went back into the goal, got the ball, threw it away and I knew I had 12 minutes to try and keep this win.
"So it hasn't affected me - obviously it's going to be in the back of my mind the next day or so, thinking about it and watching it back but moving forward, I've had a good week in training and it hasn't affected me whatsoever."
The 22-year-old has had an unconventional career path.
Glover joined Tottenham's academy in 2014 and spent time learning from goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm.
"I probably didn't expect to be in that position at that age - at 17,18 I was full-time with the first team," Glover said.
"So having them as your mentors and the likes of Harry Kane and that shooting at you - balls are flying in the back of the net.
"But when you go back to train with the under-23s, it feels a bit easier and you can see why they're the world-class players."
After difficult loan stints at Central Coast Mariners and Helsingborg, Glover departed Spurs in search of senior game time in 2019, joining City on a two-year deal.
The Olyroos shot-stopper has wrestled the No.1 mantle from Dean Bouzanis as second-placed City chase their first piece of A-League silverware.
While returning to Europe is a goal, Glover said his focus was set on building on his four A-League appearances at City and locking in a spot for Tokyo 2020.
"(Returning to Europe is) the dream," Glover said.
"But I've got to think of now and for me it's just playing as many games as possible and staying in the national team set-up with the Olympics coming up.
"So there's things to look forward to before I think about that."
Australian Associated Press
