Stoke City’s Lee Grant insists that his error against Chelsea is already behind him ahead of his side’s trip to Leicester this weekend.
The goalkeeper was at fault for Chelsea’s first goal when the leaders visited the bet365 Stadium prior to the international break.
Grant was caught out at his near post by Willian 13 minutes into the Premier League encounter, which the visitors eventually won courtesy of a late Gary Cahill strike.
The mistake - which lead to the Potters’ only defeat during March - was rectified according to the former Derby County shot-stopper, who is now looking forward to the Leicester fixture.
“You have to move on quickly from setbacks”
The free-kick taken by Willian was the first effort on Stoke’s goal 10 days ago, which might explain why a ‘keeper of Grant’s usual consistency and experience was caught out by the inswinging shot.
Considering the Brazilian’s conversion rate from set-pieces - eight of his last 19 goals for Chelsea have been from free-kicks - the lapse in concentration was always likely to be punished.
Stoke did find a way back into the match via a Jonathan Walters penalty seven minutes before the interval and looked to be heading towards a well-deserved point, just as they acquired away to Manchester City in their previous outing, before Cahill swept home the winner.
Grant was able to keep his side in with a chance of getting something from the game as his performance grew as the match went on. Making four further saves and catching once (Via Squawka), the goalkeeper feels his early error was more than made up for.
“I think the evidence for me comes in the rest of the game after the mistake happened quite early," He said.
“You take that incident away, then you look at saves and coming for crosses and all the rest of it, and other elements of my game were really strong.”
The January signing went onto say that this was “a really pleasing aspect” for him as players “have to be able to move on quickly from setbacks” and “learn with experiences” like these ones.
Butland on the prowl for starting spot
Lee Grant has been one of the league’s best performing goalkeepers this season and has gained a save percentage of 73.1% (Via NBC Sports).
His place, however, could be under threat with Jack Butland eager regain the number one spot before the end of the season following his year-long spell on the sidelines through injury.
Despite Butland telling the BBC that there was no animosity between the pair, the England international has made it clear that he will want to reclaim the shirt once he is back to full fitness.
The move to become a regular starter for Stoke once more will not be an easy one for the 24-year-old with his team-mate keeping nine clean sheets in 26 league outings during his stellar debut season in Staffordshire.
Grant stated that he is “relishing the battle” with Butland and, for him, it is about “making it difficult for Jack [Butland] to regain what was his shirt.”