Sheffield Wednesday's 'nice guy' goalkeeper has stepped up to offer much more than smiles
Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Lumley has had a fine start to the season.
Waiting for Henrik Pedersen to complete his broadcast media interviews and make his way into the press conference suite on the ground floor of Hillsborough’s South Stand, a handful of journalists looked up at the click of an opening door.
The Owls had lost 2-1 in another valiant-but-grim Championship defeat in the season of all seasons and such media engagements had even at that relatively early stage of the campaign become a little bit of a drag for all involved. Preparing recording equipment, it was assumed that it was Pedersen walking through the door.
Instead, it was Joe Lumley.
The Bristol City goalkeeper, who had played his second game in Wednesday colours on a seven-day emergency loan, had popped his head in to say his goodbyes having taken on post-match player interviews following his debut a few days before. In a fly-by-night industry where player movement is central to the very industry it is built around and even long-standing relationships can pass without a word, it struck as a thoroughly pleasant moment.
Lumley is known as one of the nice guys in football. A towering figure with a low voice and articulate tone, he might well appear better suited to a place in the back row of a rugby union team than in a football changing room.
And he’s back, though now upgraded as a full-time member of the Wednesday side having taken on the responsibility of number one duties in a brand new Owls line-up. With Ashley Maynard-Brewer and Connal Trueman working as his deputies, theirs is an entirely changed goalkeeper stable. Lumley leads the push and in early season form has shown that the old cliché that ‘nice guys finish last’ is so often misguided.
“First of all, when he was here for a few games last season, he was amazing in the dressing room from the very first day. He is a top character,” Pedersen told The Star recently.
“To be nice does not win any football game. But to be a strong performer, to be a strong personality to other people, this is what we need. And he has definitely been all this, a strong personality and a big supporter to the other guys.
“He is a good energy in the dressing room. But he is also a guy who is setting good standards for what is okay and what is not okay. And if somebody is dropping down, how do we bring them back again? So yes he is a nice guy and it is nice that he is nice - but the performance is about the personality who has had a big impact in our squad.”
The task of stepping into the seat of one of Europe’s most hotly-tipped youngsters in Pierce Charles is not one to be envied and it has been suggested that Lumley was not necessarily signed-up as the lead keeper in what was always going to be a whirlwind summer. Stevenage stopper Filip Marschall became a Millwall player despite heavy interest from Wednesday, while Murphy Cooper - another 25/26 Owls loanee - moved to Plymouth Argyle from QPR after an Owls approach eased.
In his seven ever-present outings in League One football so far, he has prevented 1.2 goals against opposition xG output and has saved 75 per cent of the shots put to him across the season, a stat that puts him second in the division behind only AFC Wimbledon’s Josef Bursik (94.4%). Behind what has been a defence near ever-changing due to injury and a team still bedding in to its instructions, his 21 saves to date have proven important.
A nice guy he may be, there appears to be a sense of steel to Joe Lumley and his start to life proper at Wednesday.