North Queensland Fury keeper Paul Henderson has set a goal for himself ahead of the club’s historic Hyundai A-League debut against Sydney FC at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday.
The 33-year-old has earned a start in the season opener after penning a two-year deal with the club and wants the history books to show he kept a clean sheet.
The former Leicester City custodian is confident his team-mates will help him achieve it, against one of the competition heavyweights.
“You want to play well first of all and then a clean sheet’s always a bonus,” Henderson said.
“So if that happens it’s not just me that keeps a clean sheet, we win as a team, we score as a team, we lose as a team,” he said.
With key defenders Scott Wilson (fractured foot) and Jacob Timpano (hamstring) ruled out for up to eight weeks, the experienced keeper’s certain the squad still has the defensive skills to avenge the 4-0 pre-season thrashing at the hands of Sydney.
“They’re an established team, they’re going to be very good, so we have to be on our mark and … hopefully the tide’s turned,” he said.
“It’s been a long pre-season, we’ve had our hiccups along the way but the last few results have been very, very good. It’s been positive all the way through, but it’s what happens on Saturday that counts,” he said.
“Everybody wants to win things but you’ve got to be realistic, it’s a new team, new in the competition, so it’s going to be very difficult. Hopefully we can be successful.”
Fury coach Ian Ferguson has given Henderson his full support in pushing for a Qantas Socceroos call-up, having previously been a shadow selection in the national side.
“He’s a good enough goal keeper,” Ferguson said.
“I’m not going to tell Pim Verbeek how to do his job, it’s hard enough for me to try and do my job, I just want him to play well for the Fury and if he does well for the Fury hopefully the national team manager will take note of that and the rest is up to him.”
