Shane Herbert
Installed in recent weeks as United's first choice goalkeeper, Norwich lad Shane Herbert has his sights set on a successful career in football.
The lifelong Liverpool fan joined his local team Norwich City as a schoolboy at the age of 13. He made his Under-19s debut at just 16 and also played in a first team pre-season game at King's Lynn that year, but his progress was interrupted by three knee operations that sidelined him for a total of about six months.
"My time there started out well but it didn't pan out," he says ruefully. "Because of the operations I wasn't able to get a consistent run going - I would play for a couple of months and then I was injured and rehabilitating again - and that happened during my first season and a half.
"Then I got over it and got to a point where I was training every day and not having any problems with it, but at the beginning of my third year I was told that I wasn't going to get anything.
"They told me I could stay on for the whole of my third year but I knew that they didn't want me and when the chance came up to go to Gillingham on loan I jumped at it. The manager was really keen to bring me in and I went there for the rest of the season."
Unfortunately though, there were several senior keepers at the club ahead of Shane and a change of manager soon after he arrived and then a spell of administration for the club meant that his hoped-for progression did not happen.
"Paul (Crichton) was there as the goalkeeping coach and he wasn't playing at the time, but around last February several of the keepers had left and there was an injury crisis and he was called up to sit on the bench instead of me, and that's when I knew it wasn't going to happen for me there," he says.
"I saw my time out there and towards the end of the season Rob (Newman) gave me a call and I came to Cambridge United and played in a few friendlies at the end of the season."
Shane was brought to the club by Newman on a non-contract basis at the beginning of this season as understudy to another former Norwich 'keeper, Paul Crichton, who had also moved on from Gillingham.
"Rob was an ex-Norwich player so I knew of him, and he was at Gorleston when I had a spell there on loan, so it was a big help to me knowing him before I came in at the start of the season and I was very happy to come here," Shane recalls.
He featured in several of the pre-season games and began the season playing for reserve/youth team side CRC in the Ridgeons Premier League, which he feels was of benefit to him when the first team call came after Crichton was sent off in the match against St Albans at the beginning of December, meaning Shane's debut would come in the next game.
"It was fantastic experience for me to have played around 15-16 games for CRC, week in, week out, and mid-week games as well. And although they are a very young side, from a goalkeeper's point of view you still get the same things to do.
"We were playing against men every week and I was dealing with shots and crosses and the physical aspects of the game are all still there, so in many ways it's not too dissimilar from the Conference and it was nice to have that experience of playing regularly for the reserves while Paul Crichton was playing in the first team.
"It worked out superbly," he adds, "and when I came into the first team in December I was quietly confident because I'd been playing regularly and playing well and there was no reason why I couldn't go in and do well."
Shane's debut was in the 1-0 win at Woking and his impressive performance meant he retained his place for the FA Trophy match at Histon, despite Crichton being available again.
But a poor all-round team performance in a 5-0 defeat saw Jimmy Quinn make six changes, including a recall for veteran Crichton, for the next game, at home to Rushden & Diamonds on Boxing Day.
Shane was naturally disappointed to lose his place, but after just two games back in the side Crichton was dismissed again, this time at the cost of a three match ban, and the 20-year-old was called up again.
However, by now the team was in the middle of a seven-match losing run so after three further defeats Quinn again opted for experience and recalled Crichton as soon as his ban was served.
"It was a blow to be left out at the time, but I was keen to show the manager that it was the wrong decision," Shane recalls. "I wanted to be in there because I felt ready, and to be dropped after a few games really spurred me on."
His time on the sidelines amounted to just one match because angry exchanges between Crichton and some supporters in his comeback game at Rushden & Diamonds saw the 38-year-old dropped for the next game at home to Woking.
Shane again took over in goal, the team won 3-0 to end the long run of defeats, Crichton joined King's Lynn on loan for the rest of the season, and Shane looks forward to today's game as the number 1 keeper of a team on a four match unbeaten run.
"It's massive to get a run of games," he admits. "I think back to how I was in my first couple of games compared to now and I can see a natural progression. Once you're playing in games you get used to everything around you; the standard of the players, the way our team plays.
"The other thing to take into consideration is that the Gaffer's brought a lot of new players in at the back and we're all new to each other and in recent games we're all very young. But in fairness we've settled in quite well and I think that shows in our recent form.
"In the game at Grays there was me at 20, Michael Morrison who's not quite 19, Aidan Collins at 20 and Sam Page who's 19, and in the first half there was a little bit of 'your ball, my ball' and our communication wasn't quite there, but we sorted it out pretty quickly and we're all quite confident playing with each other."
Supporters have already commented favourably on Shane's ability to communicate with and organise his defence, and he reveals, "The manager told me I had to be more aggressive.
"I think the main thing is that when the ball goes out of play we need to set up quickly and know what each other is doing, and at corners that is pretty much down to me. Every man has a job to do and I'm the one who has to sort that out, and that's a massive part of the goalkeeper's job."
Having come from Norwich City, Shane understandably includes former Canaries 'keeper and England international Robert Green as one of the goalkeepers he has tried to learn from.
"I think most goalkeepers probably try to learn things from each other's game. When I started out I was trying to copy Robert Green - I wanted to be strong, I wanted to come out for crosses - but in the last two or three seasons I like to look at other keepers.
"I love training with other keepers and seeing the different parts of their game and what they do, because you can take something from someone else, try it in training and see if it works for you, and if it doesn't you don't have to do it again and if it does you can mix and match things in your game.
"Goalkeeping is very complex," he adds. "We go off on our own sometimes and we work on specialist things, which is good when Paul (right) comes in because he works with us on all our special techniques.
"The new lad Daniel Crane has come in now and obviously I'm going to learn things from him and I'd like to think he might look at me and take a few things off me, so it's all good.
"There's camaraderie too, despite the fact that we're in competition. When I got dropped before the Rushden game I was disappointed because I wanted to play, but I wanted Paul to do just as well for the team so after the initial disappointment when I was told I'm not playing I wanted to get Paul warmed up and make sure that he had a good game because it was important for the team that he played well.
"And if he plays well, then that's also good for me because it's competition and it spurs me on to work hard and do better and it means no one gets complacent."
Shane also pays great tribute to another major influence in his early career: "There have been a number of people, and obviously in recent times Paul Crichton has been involved in coaching me at Gillingham and now here, which has been great, but from the start it was James Hollman, the goalkeeping coach at Norwich.
"I had a few injuries at the start and it was good of him to help me along with that, and then as soon as I got over those he was quick to help me catch up and he spent a lot of time with me in the gym getting me stronger, so he was great. He'd spend afternoons, when everyone had gone home, with me and Joe Lewis doing extra kicking and handling and shot stopping, which was superb.
"I've learned so much from him and even now I look back at some of the sessions we used to do and I use it now, because if it's good enough for them then it's good enough for me."
His short-term ambitions are to stay fit and keep his place in United's first team for the rest of the season, and looking further ahead Shane hopes to share in the success he feels is coming to the Abbey Stadium.
"Hopefully I will still be here next season and I'd like to think that maybe I could go along the same route as Michael Morrison. I won't be 21 until September and for a keeper of my age to be playing in the Conference is a good thing. Hopefully I can build on that and maybe one day I'll be heading out the door to go on trial at a club in a higher league, but the short-term goal is obviously to stay in the side and be successful here.
"I think it's so important that we finish this season strongly. Our performance levels have definitely picked up and the best thing is that they seem to be lightening the load for us at the back.
"Sometimes it felt like we were just getting waves of attacks against us and we didn't seem to be going up the other end, but now we look like we're going to score all the time and that's massive for us.
"If we keep doing that we're going to score goals and pick up points to the end of the season. Like the Gaffer has said, any team can beat any other team this season and it's just up to us.
"We've got four massive matches coming up, starting today, and we want to win all four of them - and we will win them all if we perform the way we have in the games against Woking and Grays and teams like that, because we've shown that we are a good team and I think some of us don't realise how good we are."
Shane closes with words of praise for the supporters, who have certainly taken to the young goalkeeper and enjoyed his performances as he sets out on a professional career.
"They've been absolutely fantastic, especially with the results and that spell in the last two months when Paul was in, then I was in, then Paul was in again. If the Gaffer's not sure then the fans aren't going to be sure, but in fairness the fans have been great.
"We've given them something to cheer about recently - even if we've been losing but playing well they have responded to that - but the fans are loving the performances we're putting in now and it's great."
My Favourite Game:
"When I was 15 I played in the Milk Cup final in Ireland in front of 10,000 people against Hearts. It was 0-0 at full time so we played golden goal extra time and I made a good save to keep us in it and then Ryan Jarvis scored the winning goal for us. It was a fantastic experience and I'll never forget the celebrations that started as soon as it went in. There was milk everywhere!"
Andrea Thrussell
*This interview was first published in the programme for the match against Southport on 24th February, 2007
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