Ian Evatt believes Joel Dixon offers him a strong choice in the goalkeeping department for Bolton Wanderers and will compete with Matt Gilks for the number one jersey.
Dixon made his competitive debut for Wanderers last night in the Carabao Cup first round tie against Barnsley.
Neither side could be separated in normal time, with the game decided on penalties to determine which side would be in this evening's draw for the second round.
READ MORE: Where Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday League One opening day attendances rank
Antoni Sarcevic, Amadou Bakayoko, Lloyd Isgrove and Elias Kachunga all scored their penalties to make it 4-4, before Dixon saved from Devante Cole.
And Josh Sheehan scored as Wanderers clinched a 5-4 victory on penalties.
Evatt believes that Dixon, who he knows from his time at former club Barrow, will not let him down and gives him a reliable option inbetween the sticks and act as a real competitive alternative to Gilks.
And he revealed that all five of Wanderers' penalty takers put their hands straight up when asked to take a spot kick, adding he was pleased they got the job done in a noisy stadium with the pressure that brings.
Evatt said: "He’s a good goalkeeper. I had him for two years, I trust him. He’s never going to let us down, he’s reliable. He’s a completely different character to what Matt is, but we’ve got two fantastic goalkeepers.
"We know that moving forwards they’re both going to compete with each other. We’ve got a strong choice in that goalkeeping department, which is what we needed, we didn’t have that last year.
"I don’t think you can (practice) because you can’t replicate being at a stadium with that pressure and the fans shouting and singing.
"That’s impossible to replicate on the training ground. We’ve got some technically very good footballers and when Josh Sheehan steps up for that last penalty, you really fancied him to get the job done.
“When I asked, them five put their hands straight up, so it was an easy decision really. If I was going to choose five, I would have chosen those five as well.
"We had Eoin on the bench, who is our penalty taker, but all five penalties were excellent.”
