What Garry Monk said about the possibility of Joe Wildsmith taking the gloves for Sheffield Wednesday at Brentford

Wildsmith made his first start under Monk in Wednesday evening’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester City – his first start in any first team capacity since August 2018 – and made a number of impressive saves.

But the Owls boss has up to now made it clear that Dawson is his man, jettisoning long-time number one Keiren Westwood from first team involvement and handing the 24-year-old a four-year contract.

Dawson has made a handful of costly errors between the sticks in recent weeks with many supporters calling for Wildsmith to be given a chance.

The understudy may have been disappointed with his handling of Sergio Aguero’s winner, but it was a moment out-stripped by his response, according to Monk.

The Wednesday boss said: “Him and Cameron have been really good, it’s so competitive.

“They’re the future of the club and it will be interesting in the seasons to come with those two, that competition. They’ve got a lot of respect for one another.

“But it was also to reward Joe. He had a big injury and came in late into the season, but he’s been training very hard and he’s got himself fitter and fitter.

“That was the thinking behind playing him. He made a fantastic contribution to the game.”

Asked by The Star whether Wildsmith’s performance had put him in line to start at Griffin Park on Saturday, he said: “That’s down to the competition between them both, like in every position. It’s great. Those two are young keepers making their way.

“They’re not ‘young young’, but they are young enough to be there and fighting and it’s a real strength and a positive for the club, to have such quality in two keepers who are only going to get better, in competition with each other, pushing each other every day in training.

“It’s going to be really interesting to see that battle over the coming weeks and months and hopefully years to come.”