Steve Bruce hails ‘terrific’ Karl Darlow after Newcastle goalkeeper’s heroics shut out Liverpool 

Steve Bruce has lavished praise on goalkeeper Karl Darlow after his string of superb saves ensured Newcastle picked up a hard-fought point against Liverpool.

The 30-year-old produced a man of the match performance at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening, having denied both Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino with truly breathtaking stops. 

And as calls for Darlow to receive a long-awaited England call-up continue to build, Bruce did not hold back when lauding the in-form custodian.

Karl Darlow pulled off a string of fine saves to help Newcastle clinch a point against Liverpool

Steve Bruce reserved particular praise for his goalkeeper’s performance after the stalemate

He told Amazon Prime: ‘He’s had to wait patiently for his chance and certainly with the way he’s trained.

‘Martin Dubravka is now back fit but we needed our second goalkeeper to step up and at the moment the jersey’s his because of his performances. 

‘We’ve had to call on him a bit too much at times but there’s no denying he’s been terrific all season.’

Darlow acrobatically denied Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah multiple times on Tyneside

Darlow has proved himself as one of the Premier League’s finest shot stoppers this season across his 13 appearances.

The former Nottingham Forest man slipped down into becoming second-choice, behind team-mate Dubravka, after the latter’s arrival in January 2018.

After Dubravka was sidelined with an ankle injury, however, Darlow has gone on to shine between the sticks.

‘I’m pleased to be out there doing what I can for the team when we take points like this tonight and it’s a clean sheet I’ve been desperate for because I’ve only had a couple,’ he said. 

The 30-year-old (left) has now been told his first-choice status is his to keep after his heroics

‘It’s credit to the lads and hopefully we can keep up the effort for Leicester.’  

Darlow also admitted that he has been made aware of the speculation linking him to a senior Three Lions spot in the near future.

‘It’s silly for me to not admit I’m aware of it,’ he insisted. ‘I know what’s going on and hopefully I can just keep performing well and it might put me in contention.  

‘I’ve just got to try and keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully it might happen.’ 

Darlow admitted his head has been turned by mounting calls for him to receive an England cap

His four crucial saves, combined with Fabian Schar’s last-ditch goal line clearance, helped Newcastle partially stop the rot – and Bruce soon highlighted the ‘hell of a shift’ from his team.

He added: ‘We rode our luck at times, my goalkeeper’s made a few saves which you have to playing one of the best teams in Europe, but I couldn’t fault them to a man. We stuck at it and got our reward.

‘We did cause them a few problems. We needed to improve on the ball especially late on in the game but that’s probably the tiredness setting in, it was a hell of a shift both tonight and against Manchester City.’