Goodman hopes his mum lets him play again after split eyebrow

The gangly 19-year-old centre-half signed on loan until the end of the season from Championship Millwall on Monday and put in a promising showing at Liberty Way.

However, the match truly left its mark on Goodman as he was caught with a stray elbow early on and he constantly had to have the wound rebandaged during the game with blood streaming into his eye.

On the incident, he said: “All I remember is I was about to go and get the header and he just came in and elbowed me straight in the face and that was it.

“It was very frustrating, but what was more frustrating was the amount of headers that I personally lost because blood kept dripping in my eye. It’s still no excuse, it’s just one of them things you’ve got to deal with.”

And he was unaware how many stitches it had required, saying: “I have no idea, the doc wouldn’t tell me! My mum won’t let me come back!

“I’m pretty dosed if I’m honest! I think he (boss John Still) just said you can play better but a point away is fine. A clean sheet is good enough.”

New striker Alex Wall also made his debut as a 57th-minute sub after signing on-loan with a view to a permanent move from Blue Square Bet South side Maidenhead United last week and impressed with his bustling style.

Boss John Still was impressed by both, saying: “I had to bring a centre-half in because we were struggling for a centre-half.

“I felt for him (Goodman) because he was struggling with his vision and the blood kept coming down which was why he kept coming off. That’s his first what I’d call first team game at any level.

“He’s stuck to his task well, he’s got into it, the pace of the game, reserve team football to first team football, playing on his wrong side, playing on the left and not on the right, but that’s OK.

“I’ll be able to get a little bit of work into him Thursday and Friday. To be fair I think the plus of the game was our two centre-halves. I thought they were quite strong so that was a plus as well.”

And on Wall, he continued: “Alex was somebody if I didn’t get in quickly somebody would have got him which I didn’t want to happen. I just got him on, gave him a taste of it. He’s only done one training session with us which was on Friday going up to Stockport.

“I thought, let’s get him on tonight, let’s just have a look. Scott (Rendell) got on, who missed out with a little bit of an injury, and I thought we looked a little but better when those two played up there today, but the other two did very well Saturday.”

Defensive partner and man of the match Steve McNulty felt Goodman had done well and would like to see him become more physical.

He said: “I thought he done really well. He got a nice elbow in the first five minutes - welcome to non-league football, it’s just one of them things.

“He’ll learn, he’ll get better, he hasn’t played in a couple of weeks so he’s cramping up at the end. But he’s a young lad and he looks like he’s a really good player.

“I told him that in the dressing room, I said it’s always best to get one of them (an elbow) early doors. So we’re getting into him during the week to start giving them out rather than taking them.”

And Goodman was glad to have the experienced Liverpudlian beside him, saying: “He helped me a lot. It’s hard to explain he got me more thinking, more talking, you need to do that more from when you are playing at youth team level, U21 level, you need to do it more and more at this level.

“It’s a learning curve but I’m going to do my best here, that’s all I can do.”

Goodman was pleased enough though with the result on the night, saying: “They’re near the bottom aren’t they, so they’re going to scrap for everything. They’ve got to go for everything and need to get themselves out.

“So it was a good start to come away from an away game with one point, it’s fine, so long as you don’t lose. Everyone should be happy.

“Especially away from home to get a clean sheet then let the attackers do their job.”

And, having been on the bench for the Lions when they recently knocked Luton out of the FA Cup at the fifth round stage, he’s hoping his head injury doesn’t prevent him from making his Kenilworth Road debut on Saturday when Hereford United visit.

Goodman added: “I was on the bench. I got a lot of abuse there but it’s all good banter.

“It will all be fine, hopefully this doesn’t stop me, and it will be fine and get three points.”