Keepers getting used to the rough and tumble of football again

Gone are the days of goalkeepers and out-field players being kept separate during pre-season training at MK Dons.

Keeper coach Lewis Price has been putting Jamie Cumming, Franco Ravizzoli and Ronnie Sandford through their paces this summer, but they are far more involved with the rest of the squad than during Price’s playing days.

Price, who hung up his gloves in 2020 after playing for the likes of Ipswich Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United, said the way in which Dons use the keeper in their build-up means Cumming et al are far more involved with the rest of the group than he was during his early career.

“It's the role of a modern day goalkeeper,” he explained. “Back when I was playing, goalkeepers were put to the side and then called in to play five-a-side games, but that's not the case anymore.

“With the style and the way we want to play, the goalkeeper is quite an integral part of that so we're in the team sessions and we're used in the build-up because we're a big part of it.”

He continued: “We're working on reactionary stuff. We're working on getting your eyes in, and taking hits on the floor.

“During pre-season, that's the sort of thing no-one really thinks about. After three or four weeks off, your body has to get used to taking a pounding again, waking up bruised and bumped!

“We're now getting short and sharp and getting used to what we'll face in a game.”

Cumming, who returned to Dons on loan from Chelsea earlier this summer, said while he tried to keep physically fit over the off-season, nothing quite replicates being between the sticks.

“It's all about getting that sharpness back,” he said. “Although I was away and I was going gym work, there's nothing like being in the goal and seeing the ball.

“It took me a couple of weeks to get that back, but I'm up to speed again and excited to play.”