Bristol Rovers first-team coach Andy Mangan believes the signing of Ellery Balcombe on loan from Brentford will make a positive difference, regardless of who is playing between the posts.
The 23-year-old, who spent the first half of the season on loan in League Two with Crawley Town before being recalled, has joined the Gas for the rest of the 2022/23 campaign, with Joey Barton eager to tighten up Rovers' leaky defence.
With 45 goals conceded in 27 games so far, it is obvious where the ninth-placed Gas need to improve the most as they target a run at the play-off places with 19 games remaining.
Balcombe's arrival enables Anssi Jaakkola to become Rovers' third-choice keeper, allowing him to focus primarily on his coaching duties. Former England youth international Balcombe will be left to compete with 32-year-old James Belshaw – Rovers' reigning player of the season – for the starting spot.
Mangan is sure the new-found competition in the goalkeeping department ahead of Saturday's League One clash with Wycombe Wanderers will only have a positive impact on the team.
"Ellery is a really good lad who comes highly recommended by everyone we have spoken to," Mangan said. "He is a young keeper, really well thought of. (Head of goalkeeping) David Coles speaks really well of him and everyone we’ve spoken to has really good things to say about him.
"He’s big, 6ft 3ins, he’s really good with his feet, he comes for things and he is someone who is really going to push Belly for that starting position.
"Belly has been amazing for us since the first day he stepped into the building. We need to try to give Anssi a route through to his coaching now and we need to get Belly pushed because we believe if you are pushed, that brings the best out of you.
"It’s great for the club, it’s great for competition, it will be brilliant for Belly because it will push him on even further and it’s great for Ellery to come into a team which is winning and at the right end of the Football League compared to where he’s been with Crawley.
"It’s a really exciting time. You can never say no to a good player and it’s on us as a manager and a staff to make sure that he integrates really well."
After playing a starring role for the Gas last season, Belshaw has had more difficult moments this year and he was bluntly criticised by Barton in the wake of the 4-3 defeat to Exeter City last month. As a result, Rovers view this transfer as a win-win, either by sparking an upturn in form for their number one or Balcombe earns the place in the starting XI.
Balcombe endeared himself to his teammates on Thursday by belatedly taking part in the head shave for Nick Anderton amid his cancer battle, and he impressed on the training pitch at The Quarters, too.
Mangan believes it is a bonus the keeper already has plenty of senior experience from loan spells with the likes of Doncaster Rovers and Bromley in his young career.
"That’s always important," Mangan added. "We are a club that likes to bring kids here for their first loan and that has worked for us, but he has gone out and played elsewhere so he has that first-team experience and he is someone we’re really excited to see.
"Today in training, he’s got a voice, he’s got a presence and you can see straight away that he carries that arrogance with him which I believe goalkeepers need to have. We’re really delighted to have him."
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