Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth is willing to keep faith with his young goalkeeper rather than recall senior stopper Jake Turner from his loan spell.
Taite Holtam came in for his Gills debut last weekend after an injury to regular no.1 Glenn Morris and kept things steady in goal during a 1-0 win over MK Dons.
The Gills’ other senior goalkeeper Jake Turner, joined Dagenham at the end of March, and has been starting games for the National League side.
Holtam was promoted to be understudy for Morris following Turner’s temporary exit, and has now been thrust into the limelight. He may get to play again on Friday when the Gills take on Cheltenham Town.
Ainsworth said: “If Glenn doesn’t make the games, I’m confident in the competence of Taite.
“I thought the defence really protected him well (last week). We’ve got no reason to recall someone for one game, or anything like that.
“That’s what your number twos are there for. Taite did well, so if Glenn isn’t fit, then he will deserve to get another start.
“I’m impressed with Taite. He’s been very quiet behind the scenes, but when he stepped up he made it count, and that’s what you’ve got to do in football.”
Ainsworth’s happy to risk not having a back-up keeper with no threat over relegation hanging over the club.
He said: “At this stage of the season, it’s nice not to have to panic too much. If we were in a relegation battle, or going for the play-offs, I may be looking at this a bit differently.
“As managers, you’ve always got to have something in the pipeline for a back-up, but Taite’s pretty young, pretty fit and he did well last week.
“I’m not saying Glenn’s out yet, but we’ll be very happy with putting Taite in again.”
Ainsworth plans to look at some other faces over the Easter weekend that he hasn’t seen much of.
Midfielder Ethan Coleman’s fit again having had the last three months out injured.
The Gills boss said: “We’ll be careful with Ethan but he is ready for selection, which is great. He is somebody I definitely want to see. We’ll see where he fits in over the next few games.”
Euan Williams will miss out after suffering a deadleg in the game against MK Dons but Jonny Williams is set to return to the matchday squad.
On Euan Williams missing out, Ainsworth said: “He took a hell of a whack and came off. You can usually run deadlegs off but when you can’t run it’s pretty serious.
“He wants to play. He’s saying he’ll go through the pain barrier but you’ve got to make decisions for the player sometimes. You want them to want to play but I’ll probably just rest Euan for this one.
“Jonny is back in the squad which is great and we’ve got a pretty full selection to go from, which is great.”
Josh Andrews is still recovering from a long-term injury but is out on the grass training while defender Andy Smith is also back outside doing some work.
The likes of Dom Corness and Nelson Khumbeni have been waiting patiently for an opportunity to play but Ainsworth admits it’s tough with such a big squad.
“I want to try and see them all,” the manager said.
“(Those two) are waiting very patiently.
“Wholesale changes are never great in a team. Momentum’s key.
“Part of my job as a manager is talking to everyone, making them all aware of what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling and it’s really difficult.
“Balancing it is tough because I’ve got about 30 players and all they all want to do is play. They train all week just to play on a Saturday.
“It’s very tough when you’re letting two-thirds of your squad down but the chats behind the scenes go on regular and I think it’s important.
“They’re all valued to me and that’s important but I can only pick 11.”
