Tom Heaton sends message to Erik ten Hag after making full Manchester United debut vs Charlton
Man United goalkeeper Tom Heaton made his first start for the club during Tuesday night's Carabao Cup win over Charlton Athletic.
Goalkeeper Tom Heaton is targeting more appearances in a Manchester United shirt after marking his full debut for the club with a clean sheet in Tuesday night's 3-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Charlton Athletic at Old Trafford.
Ahead of Saturday's derby against Manchester City, Reds manager Erik ten Hag opted to shuffle his pack for the visit of the League One Addicks, making eight changes in total. First-choice shot-stopper David de Gea was handed a rare breather between the sticks, paving the way for Heaton to make his first appearance of the campaign, with new signing Jack Butland not included in the matchday squad.
Heaton enjoyed a relatively quiet and untested evening, with Charlton registering just two shots on target, despite giving United plenty to think about during the second half, ahead of Marcus Rashford scoring two late goals to put the result beyond doubt.
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Heaton rejoined United in July 2021, 11 years after originally leaving the club, but had only made one appearance since returning to M16, stepping off the bench as a late substitute against Young Boys in the Champions League in December 2021. However, he has now set his sights on more outings after being given the nod against the Addicks.
"I have been back at the club for 18 months and opportunities have been a bit difficult to come by," Heaton told MUTV. "It was slightly frustrating not to play in the previous round [against Burnley]; I had a small injury at the time and obviously Martin [Dubravka] played in the first game [against Aston Villa], so played the second game.
"But thankfully I was in the shirt tonight. Of course you try and take the opportunity and, as I say, I really enjoyed it and hopefully there will be many more to come."
Heaton, who will be competing with Butland to take up second place in the goalkeeping pecking order, was well marshalled by centre-backs Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez in front of him. They restricted Charlton to few opportunities, meaning he thought it was a job well done from the three of them.
"We have got some real competition in the centre-back position, some incredible players," Heaton told MUTV. "I really enjoyed it with Licha [Martinez] and with H [Maguire] tonight.
"I thought we kept it pretty tight for most of the night against some awkward opponents in there, especially with some big lads coming on at the end. I thought we dealt with it really well and it was a really good performance."
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