Cameron Dawson and Joe Wildsmith set to resume battle for the gloves at Sheffield Wednesday

There is a fresh pair of eyes on the ding-dong battle for ascendancy between the sticks at Sheffield Wednesday.
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Joe Wildsmith is the man in possession of the gloves after playing in all nine of the matches back from football’s suspension, keeping two clean sheets along the way.

But he’ll face stiff competition from his good friend Cameron Dawson, who played 24 times in 2019/20.

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Owls boss Garry Monk has maintained that since the dropping of senior man Keiren Westwood in November neither keeper is seen as the club’s number one and that it’s over to the pair of them to fight it out for the gloves.

Joe Wildsmith and Cameron Dawson are battling it out at Sheffield Wednesday. (via Getty)Joe Wildsmith and Cameron Dawson are battling it out at Sheffield Wednesday. (via Getty)
Joe Wildsmith and Cameron Dawson are battling it out at Sheffield Wednesday. (via Getty)

Westwood remains at the club but as The Star revealed earlier this week is training with the club’s under-23s. 19-year-old Josh Render is with the top pair at their Loughborough training camp.

The senior trio are getting down to work with new goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan, who speaking to the club’s official website outlined some of the changes he’s implemented in less than a fortnight with the club.

Flahavan said: “Last week we were focused on more of the technical stuff, just to get the goalkeeper's eyes back in and to get that goalkeeping-related fitness that we need. We got a lot of that in at the training ground last week and this week we're focusing more on some game-based scenarios, leading up to the game on Saturday.

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“I've been really pleased with them all; Joe, Cameron and Josh. They've got great attitudes, they're really eager to learn and that makes my job a lot easier.

“We try to add a competitive edge to the training, to get those competitive juices flowing in training and have some consequences on it, even if its a coffee at dinner.

“Goalkeeping is like that, we make one error and it's in the back of our net, so to add those consequences to our training is key. A lot of the time it's about having that personal pride in what you're doing but to add that bit of competitiveness is good.”

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