HullCity

Bruce insists Darlow will not let Newcastle down if he gets his chance

16-Mar-2020 19:26:58 | Four-Four-Two

Karl Darlow will not let Newcastle down if he finally gets the chance to fill Martin Dubravkas sizeable boots, according toSteve Bruce.Magpies boss Bruce was ready to throw the 29-year-old into the Premier League firing line for the first time since February 2018 but the coronavirus outbreak prompted the suspension of fixtures for at least the rest of this month.Darlow thought his opportunity had arrived when Dubravka, who has 79 consecutive top-flight games under his belt, was ruled out for at least a month with medial ligament damage, but will now have to remain patient as the enforced lay-off allows the Slovakia international extra time to recover.Newcastles first-choice keeper Martin Dubravka is facing at least a month on the sidelines (Nick Potts/PA)Bruce said: Darlows been waiting all these years Look, hes played in the cups and played very, very well.Were very, very fortunate that weve got three or four good goalkeepers. The kid at Swansea [Freddie Woodman] who were monitoring is doing very, very well.Karl is very, very decent. I see him every day. Hes a very good goalkeeper, so if he gets his chance, I have no problem that hell be a very good deputy for him.The circumstances may be very different but Newcastles first team coach Steve Harper knows all about waiting in line to pull on the gloves at St James Park.Steve Harper made 199 senior appearances for Newcastle (Jon Buckle/PA)Harper, who enjoyed a two-decade playing career on Tyneside, spent much of the best part of 12 years of that serving as Shay Givens deputy.In all, he made 199 senior appearances for the club before moving on to Hull, where he worked under Bruce, in 2013.Asked if Harper would be able to empathise with Darlow over his lack of league football, Bruce said: He went three or four years yeah.At the time, he was an absolutely terrific goalkeeper. I remember him having a spell [on loan] at Huddersfield where he was talked about as the next England goalkeeper. Goalkeeper Martin Dbravka spoke to NUFC TV after his outstanding debut against @ManUtd this afternoon.Watch the full interview for free: https://t.co/UKO9IP360a #NUFC pic.twitter.com/V4NLTdgByr Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) February 11, 2018I think his loyalty towards the club maybe got in the way of his own personal career, because he could quite easily have been a number one anywhere else. He loved the club that much.Darlows last top-flight outing came in a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace on February 4, 2018.Former Sparta Prague keeper Dubravka kept a clean sheet on his debut in a 1-0 win over Manchester United a week later, and has been the man in possession ever since.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'}); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Damian Spellman, PA'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'e8af176f-0b4a-410e-9a0e-0b207ac3363a'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite'); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null); ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football'); ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Bruce insists Darlow will not let Newcastle down if he gets his chance'});