The goalkeeper at the other end of the pitch when Wayne Hennessey made his competitive Welsh debut was none other than the same custodian who will be opposite him at Stamford Bridge tomorrow - Petr Cech.

 

The pair exchanged shirts at the end of the European Championships qualifier back in June, 2007, in which they had both recorded the goalkeeper's crown jewels - a clean sheet.

 

Wayne was of course the Clean Sheet King when he was first introduced to senior football, launching his career amid a blaze of nine consecutive shutouts as Stockport won nine games.

 

Nine is also the number of consecutive clean sheets currently recorded by Chelsea on home soil, Cech has kept six of them.

 

A formidable sequence even though perhaps not deemed as spectacular as Wayne's early impact lower down the leagues with Stockport.

 

That won't however stop the Wolves keeper and team heading to Stamford Bridge tomorrow daring to believe they can somehow breach the Chelsea rearguard.

"Wales played the Czech Republic at the time when everyone was saying Petr Cech was the best keeper in the Premier League so it was great for me to come up against him," says Wayne.

 

"I got his shirt at the end which was a nice way to finish off my debut.

 

 

"He's a fantastic goalkeeper who's come back really strongly after the bad injury that he had.

 

"And Chelsea have got an incredible record of keeping clean sheets at home this season - nine in a row is superb whatever level of football you're playing.

 

"But all good runs have to come to an end at some time and we'll be going there hoping to do that by getting a goal.

 

"To have that sort of defensive record proves that they are doing something really well but we can't forget that we are a good team as well and going forward we can cause them problems.

 

"We can't go there and not play our way."

 

And playing their own way is quite probably the only way Wolves will take any positives out of Stamford Bridge - not to mention trying to force an unlikely result.

"It's going to be tough for us but at the same time going to play Chelsea is a game to be enjoyed," adds Wayne.

 

"Hopefully we will give a good account of ourselves and come away with a result.

 

"If we didn't believe in ourselves there wouldn't be any point turning up and everyone is feeling good ahead of tomorrow.

 

"Funny things can happen in football and the lads showed for half an hour against Arsenal that we can compete against a top team.

 

"Chelsea are obviously a great team when you look at them on paper and they're doing really well this season and are in with a good shout of winning the title.

 

"But we'll go there and do our stuff and just see if we can come back with a result."

 

It's been something of an unforgiving baptism to the Barclays Premier League for Wayne and Wolves so far.

 

 

The keeper - like several defenders - has been in impressive form and yet Wolves have found it difficult to keep clean sheets.

 

"It's been interesting for me so far and we've seen as a team how we can get punished by the players in this league," he admits.

 

"I feel I've done ok so far and have obviously got the battle to try and keep the number one shirt here and try and help keep us up.

 

"We have conceded goals but there will be a lot of times in this league when you just have to put your hands up and say there's nothing we could have done about that.

 

"The lads in front of me have all done really well when they've been put to the test and what we've got to do is make sure we don't concede goals through making mistakes."

 

And the 22-year-old is keen to continue to improve.

 

He is another of those in the squad to take a keen eye on Wolves' Pro Zone programme and look back at each game with goalkeeping coach Pat Mountain to assess his own performance and possible ways to improve.

 

"I like to go back and watch the games again with Pat," he adds.

 

"As a player you always like to think of what you could have done better or differently

 

"Was that the best pass out from the back or throw? Should I have come for a cross or been in a different position? Have we had the right number of people in the wall for a free kick?

 

"It's a case of looking at all different types of situations and see if you could have changed things.

 

"As they say you are only as good as your last game and there are always little things you can do to improve."

 

* Wolves face local rivals Birmingham at Molineux on Sunday 29^th November and thanks to Sportingbet.com you and a friend could be there.

 

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