Bristol Rovers have announced via their official website that exciting young goalkeeper Jed Ward has signed a fresh three-year deal with the club. There is also an option for Rovers to extend for a further year if they wish.
The highly thought-of youngster has appeared for the Gas 11 times this season, keeping three clean sheets in the process. He has been with the club since the age of seven and has had several successful lower-league loans. He most recently appeared in the 5-0 defeat against in-form Lincoln City.
Ward would have appeared more but for on-loan Brentford goalie Matt Cox who has appeared 27 times for Rovers. The backup keeper makes on average 3.1 saves per game according to Sofascore, which equates to a solid 64% save rate.
This great news of the contract extension comes off of the back of a double injury boost for the Gas with Grant Ward and Luke McCormick back for the trip to Vale Park. Although as a club, Bristol Rovers may not have a whole lot left to play for this season, the players certainly do with contracts in mind.
In a bumper weekend of EFL football, Rovers welcome Shrewsbury Town to the Memorial Ground on Monday and will be hoping for back-to-back wins if able to get the better of Port Vale first.
A delighted Ward raved to the official club website about his new contract:
“I’m really happy to sign my new contract with Bristol Rovers. The past few weeks playing in the first team have been unbelievable and I’m really happy to now keep it going.
“It’s been some journey that I’ve been on so far. It’s not even close to being done but it’s really nice to be rewarded for my hard work with these things. I want to take everything I can from it and keep going.
“Things like the England call-up show me I’m on the right path and make the hard work worthwhile. I want to push on now.”
Manager Taylor was just as delighted, going onto say:
“It is fantastic that Jed has signed a new contract with the Club. He is a hardworking, committed and determined young player who has reaped the rewards of his efforts so far this season, both with his run in the first team and his recent inclusion in the England set-up.”
“A goalkeeper’s peak age is around 30, so we must remember that Jed is still developing in relation to his game and body. We are delighted that he has chosen Bristol Rovers to be his home for the next four years.”
Writer’s View
Ward is a brilliant renewal for the Rovers and as has already been said is highly thought of in the set-up and will surely be the club’s future number one.
To do anything on the pitch you need to build from the back and one of the most important positions in football is the goalkeeper. It also means if the youngster does kick on, Rovers can get a fee if they ever decide to sell. This is a shrewd piece of business as the Gas looks to kick on for next season.
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