April 26, 2004

Home United goalkeeper Sean Roberts is relieved at the second chance he is getting at the Protectors.

Just a few games into the S-League season, the South African was written off as a poor signing. The weight of expectation on being a former South Africa under-21 international & a Sheffield Wednesday player did not help as he was at fault for several mishap in goal especially in the opening match when he gifted a goal to Sinchi.

But the turning point in Sean Roberts Home United career came 2 weeks ago, when he was dropped from the first team in favour of Ridzuan Fatah.

A subsequent injury to Ridzuan presented Sean Roberts with the chance to redeem himself after 16 minutes of the Protectors' AFC Cup game against Malaysian side Perak, & the young keeper has grabbed it with full hand. He looked a different prospect in the 2 games since.

While he was once jittery & hardly commanded his box, Roberts now looks confident & cajoles his defence.

The 21-year-old keeper admitted it took a while to settle into Singapore as it was a big change especially the weather. He believes the initial criticism he received motivates him as some of the criticism was a bit unfair but it pushes him to prove them wrong.

His coach Steve Darby is delighted at the turnaround of Sean Roberts & felt the fans are seeing the real him now. He also believes Sean had only made one real mistake, which was the goal he let in against Sinchi.