Exeter City supporters simply need to have more patience with Crystal Palace agreement: View | OneFootball

Joe Whitworth has had a mixed start to his Exeter City career but Grecians can't turn on Crystal Palace ace.

It’s fair to say it’s not been the dream start to life for Joe Whitworth at Exeter City.

The diminutive keeper is embarking on his debut season of regular men’s football after getting rave reviews at youth level for Crystal Palace.

Grecians were rightly excited at the announcement, especially after the roaring success of Viljami Sinisalo’s loan from Aston Villa last season.

The Finland international was an instant hit and followed in the footsteps of Cameron Dawson in having a good one-off campaign between the sticks in Devon’s capital.

The opening day went to plan for City as they beat one of the pre-season favourites for the league Rotherham with a 1-0 home win.

Three points and a clean sheet. Not too shabby.

Joe Whitworth has made Exeter mistakes

The England youth international came away with plenty of credit in the poor Carabao Cup exit to Walsall, saving a penalty late on as the Grecians tried in vain to hang on.

His penalty-saving prowess was mentioned by Palace fans on his unveiling and, while he looked to have won the game by making a save at 1-0, City did eventually crash out on penalties after a stoppage-time equaliser.

But then the errors crept in and Whitworth made a big blunder in allowing Northampton to score to make it 1-1 in City’s second League One match of the season which they went on to lose 2-1.

He couldn’t decide whether to stick or twist and ended up in no-man’s land as Callum Morton added to the indignity by slotting the ball between the legs of the keeper, who could only watch as it crept agonisingly over the line.

Next up was the 2-1 home loss to Peterborough where Emmanuel Fernandez’s long-range strike caught him off-guard and went in at a very-saveable spot to cost City the match.

The shot had a bit of dip and bend on it, while a strong wind may also have played a part, but it was an effort a professional keeper should be stopping all day long.

The second error led to murmurs of discontent online with comments along the lines of, ‘well at least I’m not going to fall in love with a loan keeper this year’.

There were always going to be mistakes from Whitworth, but the expectation might have been that they would came with the ball at his feet as he likes to play a high sweeper keeper role.

We’re yet to get a foot fault from the 20-year-old and it was reassuring to see him put in a complete all round performance last time out in the 2-0 win away at Bolton.

He’s a young guy playing in front of proper, hostile, crowds with increased pressure for the first time and the last thing he or the club needs is the fans turning on him.

Caldwell has faith in Whitworth

Speaking after an error to give away and then save a penalty in the pre-season win over Yeovil, Caldwell said: "The biggest thing we look for is personality and character and Joe has that in abundance.

"I think we've seen that with the way he holds himself on the pitch.

"There was a mistake, it was a poor pass back to him and then he made the mistake, but we understand that everyone's going to make mistakes in this team, but the reaction and the personality that you show after it is the most important thing.

"The next time he got the ball he played out the same, they got a penalty, he saves it, I think it tells you everything you need to know about the character and the boy.

"We're delighted to bring him in, he's going to be a goalie with a big future and hopefully another one the fans can really connect with this season."

City fans must support Whitworth

He has already shown that resilience with that strong showing at the Toughsheet.

There has been a bit of a trend of getting on players’ backs creeping into the City faithful, as Will Aimson and James Scott will attest.

We can’t afford to decide we don’t like Whitworth and he’s got to be given time to adapt, not least because unless he gets injured he’s going to start every game without fail.

He’s shown he has ability and there’s still plenty of time to make this loan move a fruitful one for him.

If City are to make this a good season and push on for a top-half finish Whitworth will be vital and he’s got plenty going for him. Let’s not write him off on the back of a couple of errors in his first few men’s matches.