Ipswich Town: Christian Walton joins Petr Cech and Edwin van der Saar

The Town keeper went 950 minutes without letting in a goal between George Byers’ strike for Sheffield Wednesday on February 18 and Alfie May’s equaliser for Cheltenham on Monday, with the keeper’s run well in excess of 1,000 minutes of playing time when taking stoppage time into account.  

It’s left him in good company, too, with Walton’s efforts putting him third in the list of streaks without conceding across the top four divisions since the 1999/00 season, according to Playmaker Stats. 

⏰Most consecutive mins w/out conceding (t4t; fr. 99/00):

1⃣3⃣1⃣1⃣: Van der Sar (Man Utd 08/09)
1⃣0⃣2⃣5⃣: Cech (Chelsea 04/05)
9⃣5⃣0⃣: 💙WALTON💙 (Ipswich 22/23)
9⃣0⃣7⃣: Konstantopoulos (Middlesbrough 15/16)
8⃣5⃣5⃣: Filan (Wigan 02/03)
8⃣5⃣4⃣: Hennessey (Stockport 06/07)#itfc pic.twitter.com/vDNgE4BqIM

— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) April 11, 2023

The top two positions belong to two of the best goalkeepers in the history of the Premier League, with Edwin van der Saar of Manchester United leading the way with a run of 1,311 without conceding during the 2008/09 season. United won the Premier League, League Cup and Club World Cup that season, while also losing the Champions League final to Barcelona. 

Next is Petr Cech, who kept the ball out of the Chelsea net for 1,025 minutes in a 2004/05 season which saw the Londoners win the Premier League and League Cup. 

Next, after Walton, is Middlesbrough’s Dimi Konstantopoulos, whose goal was not breached for 907 minutes in 2015/16 as the men from the Riverside were automatically promoted to the Premier League. 

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech

Rounding out the top five is Australian John Filan, who went 855 minutes without conceding between the Wigan sticks in 2002/03 and helped the Latics claim the third tier title in the process. 

Walton’s run may have come to an end but history shows that goalkeepers enjoying stunning runs as long as his always get what they want at the end of the season. 

Hopefully the same proves to be true for Walton and Ipswich Town. 

Most consecutive minutes without conceding (top four tiers from 1999/00) 

1: Edwin van der Saar – Manchester United (08/09) - 1,311 minutes 

2: Petr Cech – Chelsea (04/05) - 1,025 minutes 

3: Christian Walton – Ipswich Town (2022/23) - 950 minutes 

4: Dimi Konstantopoulos – Middlesbrough (15/16) - 907 minutes 

5: John Filan – Wigan Athletic (02/03) - 855 minutes 

6: Wayne Hennessey – Stockport County (06/07) - 854 

7: Petr Cech - Chelsea (06/07) - 827 minutes 

8: Robert Green - QPR (13/14) - 827 minutes 

9: Mike Pollitt - Chesterfield (00/01) - 787 minutes 

10: Dimi Konstantopoulos - Hartlepool (06/07) - 770 minutes 

Ipswich Town's best runs without conceding (since 1999/00)

1: Christian Walton - 22/23 - 950 minutes

2: Christian Walton - 21/22 - 593 minutes

3: Tomas Holy - 19/20 - 538 minutes

4: Scott Loach - 12/13 - 388 minutes

5: Tomas Holy - 20/21 - 383 minutes

6: Richard Wright - 99/00 - 368 minutes