Penalty save hero relishing being Inverness Caley Thistle number one after Lowland League career
MUSA Dibaga says he has grasped the opportunity of becoming the number one goalkeeper at Inverness Caledonian Thistle with both gloves.
The Spanish goalkeeper was virtually unknown when he was brought in during the summer as a back-up to Jack Newman who came in on loan from Dundee United.
But when Newman got injured, Dibaga, whose previous clubs in Scotland were Whitehill Welfare and Bo’Ness United in the Lowland League, was given the chance to show what he could do.
He impressed so much that he remained the club’s number one even when Newman was available for selection after returning from injury.
Now with Newman’s loan deal terminated after the club went into administration, Dibaga is the undisputed first choice goalkeeper at Inverness, and is continuing to impress with a string of fantastic performances in-between the sticks.
Despite originally being brought in as the club’s number two, Dibaga (24) says he was always determined to prove he was good enough to be first choice and is delighted with the trust management have put in him.
He said: “I was originally brought in as a substitute goalkeeper, but I had the mental attitude in training that I needed to win the number one shirt.
“The gaffer put his trust in me and I kept playing all the games. Now I am focussing on playing every game left in the league.”
Speaking about the difference of playing in the Lowland League and League One, Dibaga said: “At my previous clubs, it wasn’t the same as it is here.
“If you make a small mistake at this level, teams will punish you.
“It is a lot quicker in League One and I knew that I needed to step up and do it and I believe in myself.
“I know I can do it.”
Dibaga played a huge part in the 2-1 win over Cove Rangers at the Balmoral Stadium on Saturday.
After going 1-0 down, Inverness conceded a penalty, but Dibaga guessed right to pull off a great save from Mitch Megginson.
It sparked a comeback, as Adam Mackinnon scored an equaliser one minute after the penalty save before Keith Bray scored the winner in the second half.
He says the key to a successful penalty save is knowing which way you are going to dive before the penalty is taken and having faith.
He said: “I put full faith in God and I trusted myself.
“I picked one side and I just went for it and managed to save the penalty.
“It is two penalty saves out of two, so it is a good record that I have.
“But I am mostly happy after the penalty save that we got the momentum to score that goal. Everything went our way for us.”
The win on Saturday means Inverness moved from -2 to one point and are now 11 points behind Dumbarton in ninth.
Dibaga says if Inverness are going to get off bottom spot, they can’t afford to be reserved and throw all they have at every game they play.
He said: “We came here with nothing to lose so we gave it everything.
“We were ready for whatever that was coming. We were focussing on our performance which definitely deserved the three points and the penalty save.
We are closing in on teams above us and we are going to try and get every point that is available.
“We are not going to be comfortable with just saving the team, we need to go for every point going.
“We are at home again on Saturday and we play another team at the top of the league in Alloa Athletic.
“We can beat them if we can play like we did and we can get another three points at home.”
