SOUTHEND United boss Kevin Maher praised Collin Andeng Ndi’s maturity after the young shot-stopper received a late call up against Oldham Athletic on Saturday.
Steve Arnold had been due to start between the sticks for the Shrimpers before suffering back pain in the warm up.
And Maher was impressed with how the 19-year-old stepped in at such late notice.
“Collin’s a great character and the work that has gone into him is brilliant,” said Maher.
“He’s got a good stature about him for such a young keeper too.
“At the start of the season I wanted to get him out on loan ideally for him to play men’s football.
“I didn’t want him not to be playing but he’s come in and shown great maturity.
“The lads in front of him did really well defensively too.”
The resolute display resulted in Andeng Ndi keeping the first senior clean sheet of his career.
But Maher is currently unsure whether or not Arnold will be back in action at Eastleigh on Saturday.
“Arnie’s had a bad back for the last 10 days or so,” said Maher.
“With the long journeys we’ve had it’s been going into spasm and in the warm up it was just too sore.
"You’re thinking ‘here we go again’ with the injuries and it’s how our luck has been recently.
"But we’ll see how it settles down and see where he’s at with it.”
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