Flying through the air - Dean Gerken makes an acrobatic late save for Ipswich during their summer friendly at Braintree Town Picture: Jon Weaver

by MATT PLUMMER

IT’S far from an obvious link but there was a crumb of symmetry in Ipswich Town’s Championship draw against Brentford, on Tuesday night.

Former Colchester United goalkeeper Dean Gerken kept his place between the posts – his third start in a row – and it was against the same opposition that he made his U’s debut, in a Division Two clash in April 2004.

Plenty of water has passed under the bridge since then (Colchester lost 3-2, by the way, despite goals from Alan White and Craig Fagan).

He went on to feature over 100 times for the U’s, followed by a loan at Darlington and a half-century of appearances for Bristol City before putting pen to paper on a deal at Portman Road in July 2013.

Now, after another fixture against Brentford, it would appear the number one shirt is his to lose. And deservedly so.

Boss boss Paul Hurst took a huge gamble when recalling the former Southend United youth-teamer for Town’s recent East Anglian derby against Norwich City.

Bartosz Bialkowski was the undisputed first-choice keeper and despite an uncharacteristically error-strewn start to the campaign, no-one expected him not to figure against the Canaries.

Chelmsford Weekly News:

Back in the day - Dean Gerken in action for the U's in a match against Peterborough United

Gerken was welcomed in from the cold, in terms of gracing the starting line-up, but it was a switch that could have backfired spectacularly.

Had he fluffed his lines and made a costly mistake in such a high-profile, emotion-charged game, it would have been disastrous. Both for Gerken and Hurst.

Instead, after a quiet first half, he made an important reflex save and could do nothing about the Canaries’ equaliser.

He kept his place for Town’s next match at Hull City and was arguably their best player – albeit the pick of a very poor bunch – as the woeful Blues slumped to a 2-0 defeat.

Then came Tuesday’s match against Brentford and, once again, Gerken impressed.

He made an important save in the first half and another vital one in the second.

All of which brings us up to date, with Gerken odds on to keep his place for Saturday’s home match against former U’s boss Phil Parkinson’s Bolton Wanderers.

He has been cast in the role of first-choice rather than dependable back-up and after two years of bench-warming, starting just one league game last season and two the year before, that’s quite a position to be in.

Maybe one he thought he would never find himself in again.