Maidstone United goalkeeper Lucas Covolan expecting a busy day against an Ipswich Town side described as the ‘Man City of the Championship’
Published: 05:00, 26 January 2024
Maidstone goalkeeper Lucas Covolan expects to be busy against the “Manchester City of the Championship”.
The Brazilian, 32, will be the last line of defence for the Stones at Ipswich in Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie.
He’s a man for the big occasion, even scoring in a National League play-off final for Torquay three years ago.
And they don’t come much bigger than facing a Tractor Boys side going for promotion to the Premier League at a packed Portman Road.
“Some people call them the Manchester City of the Championship because they move the ball very well,” said Covolan.
“They have very good players and if you’re not switched on it could be embarrassing for us.
“But, at the end of the day, it’s 11 v 11 and I hope we do a very good game, and you never know with the magic of the FA Cup.
“If everyone is switched on in their team it will be a very busy day for me and hopefully I’ll bring my A-game.
“Loads of people will be watching.
“We’re just the underdogs and everyone is expecting us to lose but anything can happen.
“They need to respect us as well a little bit because we’ve got this far because we’ve been collectively very good.”
Covolan has been one of Maidstone’s stand-out performers this season but there’s a big difference between denying non-league strikers and keeping Championship players at bay.
He said: “I like being busy when I’m having a good day.
“I prefer being busy and I think it helps to be switched on in the game all the time.
“It’s more difficult when the ball is on the opposite side of the pitch to keep your concentration. I’d rather have the ball around me all the time but it’s going to be a very busy day for me.
“You know when you’re having a good day but you cannot rely on the first save or the first kick because there's 95/98 minutes to play.
“You can play unbelievably well for 95 minutes and then one second you switch off and make a mistake.
“It’s different facing shots at that level because the players have much more technique, so they can see you moving early, or if you try to read them too early they can just switch to the other side.
“They are in the Championship for a reason and technically everyone’s very good.
“In National League South, people strike the ball and try their best to hit the target and sometimes it goes top bins.
“But at Championship level, I think eight out of 10 times the shot will go top bins so it’s not good if you give them too much space, otherwise it will be a very hard day for us.”
Covolan will have no problem dealing with any stick from Ipswich fans behind the goal.
He’s the sort of character who embraces that, although a near-30,000 crowd does come with its challenges.
“I like playing in games with big crowds,” he said.
“I use that energy of them having a go at me to bring me up.
“I don’t know how many people will be there but the louder they get, the more energy I’ll get as well, so I think it will be a very good day.
“The only downside is the communication on the pitch because if it’s really loud it’s very difficult to pass information on and sometimes people can’t hear it.
“At the end of the game I will have no voice.”
More by this author
Craig Tucker