I think Tuesday night was the first time I’ve ever heard Colin Doyle’s name sung at St Andrews by the fans. In truth, he deserved it – his excellent save from Juan Mata’s penalty galvanised Blues into pushing Chelsea a little harder for a goal. It also led me to wonder just how many penalties Doyle has saved for Blues.

The answer isn’t as many as I thought it would be, in truth – but I think that’s because I’ve seen and can remember all his penalty saves. At the time of writing this, Colin has made 44 appearances for Blues, and in that time he has faced seven penalties – saving three. The four players to score penalties against Doyle are Windass (for Hull at the KC Stadium), Mark Noble (for West Ham at St Andrews), former loanee Matt Derbyshire (for Blackburn at Ewood Park) and Paul Gallagher, who scored a highly controversial penalty awarded by Michael Oliver for Plymouth at St Andrews.

The three penalties he saved however –

Michael McIndoe for Wolves.

Injury time in a crunch promotion game at the Molineux, and Blues are in the lead after goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Cameron Jerome had put them 3-2 up. However a clumsy barge by Bruno N’Gotty on Jody Craddock led to the ref pointing to the spot to the consternation of the Blues players; captain Stephen Clemence getting booked for protesting too vociferously. McIndoe stepped up to take it to complete his hat trick, and saw his low effort saved easily by Doyle down to his right.

Juan Mata for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

Blues had just gone one goal up thanks to David Murphy when Wade Elliott fouled Ramires in the area; referee Martin Atkinson had no hesitation at pointing to the spot. Doyle did everything he could to get Mata to go to Doyle’s right; Mata took the bait and Doyle tipped it on to the post. To answer the kid in the video, no Juan Mata did not score.

and

Juan Mata for Chelsea at St Andrews

Blues were on the rack; Chelsea were rampant. N’Daw hadn’t clattered anyone for ten minutes and as Torres came into the area the inevitable happened. After asking Torres if he wanted it and getting a negative response (despite the Tilton screaming for Torres to take it), Mata stepped up again. This time, Doyle goes to his left and easily parries Mata’s effort which is then cleared by the blues backline.

Three from seven isn’t a bad record for any keeper really; maybe not a penalty king but he’s certainly done well.

Tags: Colin Doyle