When Gary Lineker, former England striker extraordinaire drew the attention of the internet to a stupendous non-league quadruple save that he was “bloody impressed” by, there was no doubt that something of the epic sort had taken place.
On Thursday, Weymouth keeper, Ryan Sandford, in his debut match for the team against Bath City gathered praise for his moves after he thwarted the former’s Cody Cooke’s attempt at a spot-kick while trying his best to keep his team in the game.
In his stunning debut, Sandford did a great job stopping the opening spot kick by diving low to his left, but he soon had to jump back up and use his feet to stop the close-range rebound.
Sandford was granted a four-second break after a quick bustle in the box before blocking another shot.
The loanee was back on his feet right away to take care of the remnant threat and palm the fourth call out for a corner since he was not satisfied with the triple.
Sandford has only joined the team earlier this week, as a part of the month-long loan extended from Millwall, and has been hailed by teammates for his commendable efforts, although they had not been able to reverse the game far enough for Weymouth to put more points in.
It was not just Lineker who had praise for the 23-year-old, with even Edwin Van der Sar, a renowned Manchester United veteran retweeting the clip with a “Nice one!”.
The clip, now reshared by several Twitter users, has accumulated nearly 2 million views on the platform.
Sandford has been gaining widespread praise for his stint, from fans and critics alike.
The official Copa90 Twitter weighed in with “Look up ‘wall’ in the dictionary, and you’ll probably find a picture of Weymouth keeper, Ryan Sandford”.
A fan commented, “Who’s the best keeper in the world? Ederson? Alisson? No, it’s Ryan Sandford”, while another said, “This is well worth a watch. Quite a way to mark your debut!
Not a big fan of one-month loans, but hopefully Ryan Sandford can show enough down at Weymouth to earn him a longer loan at a higher level in the near future.”
One fan even pointed out “Last night was the first time since September 2017 that both goalkeepers in a Bath City match were on loan from the same club – Joe Wright and Ryan Sandford from Millwall.”
Weymouth’s problems weren’t done, and Sandford had to step up twice in a row to keep his team in the game.
Weymouth was unable to score another goal during the contest, which was unfortunate for Sandford’s heroic efforts to salvage the game.
Unfortunately, for Sandford and his teammates, Weymouth was unable to get an equaliser and dropped to the bottom of the National League South standings after eight losses.
