Crown Football Round-Up (05/10/2018)

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Wigan goalkeeper Christian Walton.

A mid-week championship fixture against Swansea marked Christian’s 100th career appearance. The match saw Christian produce a string of impressive saves. Christian and defender Reece James denied Swansea of their first goal early on in the game. Minutes later Walton was on hand again to deny Joe Rodon from 25 yards on 23 minutes before Latics went close themselves. Swansea’s best chance for a first-half goal fell to Conor Roberts, who went through one-on-one with Walton, though the keeper stood strong to protect his clean sheet, in a game that ended 0-0.

And speaking on keeping a clean sheet on his 100th career appearance, Christian said: “I had a few key moments in the first-half where I had to be ready. I think we put in a good performance, probably one of the best performances we have had in the last four games. It is nice to reach the milestone but I want to play many more games and it is just a case of kicking on now and playing as many as I can for Wigan.”

And Christian’s recent performances earned him a place in the Championship September Team of the Month.

Preston North End goalkeeper Chris Maxwell got his first league start of the season last weekend against Sheffield United. He was also in the starting line-up in this week’s mid-week fixture against Aston Villa. Five minutes of stoppage time was added and in the first of it the home side drew level to make it 3-3. And in the final 30 seconds a penalty was awarded to Villa. But Maxwell made up for it with a stunning save to deny substitute Whelan, diving low to his left to save – giving Preston their first away point of the season.

Watch the impressive save below:

Bury FC held on to a 2-1 victory over Colchester at the weekend thanks to Byron Moore and Chris Dagnall. Nicky Adams played a clever ball into Byron, who fired his effort into the roof of the net, leaving the keeper with no chance. That makes it 3 goals in 2 games for Byron. And with 41% of the vote, Byron was voted Bury FC’s Social Media Man of the Match!

Congratulations to Connor Kirby, who made his Championship debut for Sheffield Wednesday this week. Connor was subbed on for injured Onomah in the 82nd minute, in a match which ended 2-2.

Taylor Bellis was subbed on at half time for Manchester City U19's in their first match of the UEFA Youth League against Lyon.

And last weekend the 16-year-old made his debut for Man City in Premier League 2. The team faced a tough Derby City, but came out on top in a 3-2 victory. Taylor played across the back four with Alpha Diounkou, Colin Rosler and Nathanael Ogbeta. The victory takes the EDS squad up to fourth place. Taylor was also called up to the under 23's for their match against Swansea City, where they won 4-1.

Manager Paul Harsley said: “We had young Taylor Harwood-Bellis at 16 playing at the back. It’s great for his learning and Taylor will have never played in a game like that. I thought the back four and ‘keeper were all fantastic in their commitment, putting their bodies on the line.”

Last week 18-year-old Adam Lewis trained with the Liverpool first team ahead of their Premier League match against Chelsea. His inclusion in Jurgen Klopp's training session came at a perfect time for Klopp to explore his options, as back-up left-back Alberto Moreno made his first start of the season.