The American League Side

[ontario claret]

In the NHL, there's a term for a goalie getting beaten on the near post. It's called "Getting beaten on the American League side". The implication is that top-class goaltenders don't give give up goals on the near post. Question is, would Tom Heaton have given up Swansea's second goal on Saturday?

[dsr]

I expect so. If you blast it at close range into the top corner of the goal, it will usually go in. You aren't likely to score at the foot of the post, but you will score at the top.

Remember ice hockey goalies are vast and the goals are tiny. They can squash against the post and make it literally impossible to score from an angle. Football goalies don't have that option.

[Claretmatt4]

9/10 his shot skies into the crowd. He just belted it with his toe and it could've gone anywhere. Lucky for him it shot into the net place Robinson couldnt get to it.

Robbo was poor at the weekend but I find it hard to blame him for any of the three goals.

[claretspice]

Heaton saves it 9 times out of 10.

Its a good finish, but Robinson leaves a gap to his left and that is where the ball goes. A keeper ought to cover that gap and stand up. If he does, he saves than shot like Olsson's, but more realistically he forces Olsson to shoot across goal and the chances are that a combination of a narrow angle and blocking defenders make it unlikely he would score.

Its poor positioning from Robinson that creates the chance unfortunately. Still a fine finish, mind.

[ontario claret]

Goalies don't "squash" against any posts in hockey, unless they're checking against a guy coming out from behind the net. That's something you don't have in football. In this instance, it's the same in football and hockey. A player coming in on a break has to be met by coming out and cutting down the angle. I used to play goalie in hockey, and the #1 rule was always know where your goalposts are. You have to know your angles. Second rule was, don't get beat on the short side. You can always react to a shot across you, but never to a "snipe".

[ontario claret]

The guy came in from Robinson's right, so the gap was from Robinson's right. I don't know. I'm just suggesting that Tom would have reacted quicker, but we'll never really know.