Joe Hart fears rival Ben Foster - due to the Birmingham City connection

Sep 6 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

JOE Hart, now firmly ensconced as England’s No.1, reckons Ben Foster is going to be pushing him all the way at international level.

And Hart says one of the main reasons for that is Blues’ goalkeeper coach Dave Watson.

Hart responded to Watson’s work during his superb loan spell at St Andrew’s last season, his form was such that he won the player-of-the-season honour.

And now Foster, Blues’ £6 million signing from Manchester United in the summer, is reaping similar benefits.

“The goalkeeping coach, I can’t speak highly enough of Dave Watson,” said Hart, who kept a clean sheet on his competitive England debut on Friday, the 4-0 win over Bulgaria in a Euro 2012 qualifier.

“I worked closely with him. Every day means the world to him football-wise and he is going to do the same with Ben.

“He will really push him. Ben is a great ‘keeper and it will be great for him to be a number one and you have seen in his early performances for Birmingham that he is going to do well.”

Hart said his time at Blues polished him up and got him ready to take over from Robert Green and David James as the Three Lions’ top choice between the sticks. “My improvement from 12 months ago has just been so gradual. I’m so grateful to Birmingham for letting me play.

“That has really helped me grow as a ‘keeper, not necessarily being better at doing certain things, but just being a ‘keeper, someone’s ‘keeper and being part of a team. I’ve improved there.”