Ryan Clarke put his Tamworth error behind him with a fine performance against Woking in midweek.

So just when Billy Turley might have been thinking he was set for a recall, Clarke appears to have held on to pole position.

As often happens in these situations, when an early cross-cum-shot was directed at goal, there were one or two ironic cheers when the keeper this time gathered the ball very safely.

Manager Chris Wilder said afterwards: “I had a bit of a laugh with somebody because the first cross comes in after about two minutes, and I questioned people around me who wondered whether he was going to catch it!”

Clarke went on to make three fine saves in the game, although there was again the occasional poorly-directed punt upfield.

Yet it’s a measure of how outstanding he has been in the first six months of the season that a first real blunder comes as such a shock.

“He’s all right,” Wilder said. “It’s good to get him back on the bike.”

Before the FA Trophy tie, Clarke admitted he was pleased to get the chance to make amends quickly.

“You’re going to get slip-ups, but it’s how you react,” he said.

“It’s not a matter of life and death for me, just a question of getting the next game to come along as quickly as possible to put things right.

“It’s one defeat at home all season.

“Our record at home’s brilliant and it’s going to be massive towards the end of the season and hopefully that [error] will be the only one.”