Aston Oxborough was blown away by the Prime documentary of his hero Thibaut Courtois titled ‘The Return of the Number One’.
And having finally become the main man at Motherwell after two years playing understudy, the towering goalkeeper admits he’s modelling himself on the Belgian superstar as he looks to script his own story at Fir Park. Oxborough has been in superb form since emerging from Liam Kelly’s shadow. A string of match winning saves saw him land the club’s player of the month in September and earned him a new contract through to 2027. But the 6ft4in shotstopper insists his best is yet to come.
And he admits he is inspired by icon Courtois – who overcame two serious knee injuries in the space of 10 months to play a crucial role in Los Blancos’ Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund back in June. He said: “The Courtois documentary is brilliant, isn’t it? Obviously the injuries, the two back-to-back in the injuries and him playing in the final.
“For him to play that well in the final after so little games was amazing. I model my game off him. He’s the best in the world at the minute. Just trying to replicate what he does is obviously easier said than done. Match-winning saves. He wins Real Madrid a lot of games. He keeps them in games so they can counter and score.
“Obviously he might not be the busiest at times player for Real Madrid but he stays alert and has to make them big saves after not doing much for a lot of the games.”
Making those match winning saves has become a feature for Oxborough this season, no more so than his man of the match performance last time out in the 2-1 win over Hibs in Leith. That’s moved the Steelmen up to fourth in the table on the back of a run of six wins from seven games in all competitions. Another win today takes them level with Rangers in third.
And former Norwich kid Oxborough said: It feels like a good place to play my football at the minute. It’s obviously nice to be rewarded for the work I’ve put in, so I’m grateful for that. Hopefully I can kick on further from this.
“When you’re waiting in the wings for a while, you’re chomping at the bit to take that opportunity. Hopefully I’ve shown that, but it’s only a start. It’s only been 10 games, so I need to do that over 40 games, 80 games, like a season, two seasons.
“The reason I came up here was because I thought this opportunity would come, but it was quite unique because I had two or three different managers within my time. Obviously I signed under Graham Alexander, and then Stephen Hammell came in, and then Stuart Kettlewell. That’s probably played a part in it, but I’m delighted to finally get the nod. I’m very thankful to the manager for giving me the chance because I am a bit of an unknown quantity.”
Former skipper Kelly moved to Rangers in the summer having played every league minute for Well in Oxborough’s first two seasons in Lanarkshire. But the 26-year-old insists it wasn’t time wasted. He said: “I learnt from him day to day in training and how he handled himself and watching him play. I’m happy I got to work with him and hopefully I can take bits from his game and put a twist on it with my own stuff.
“We message each other now and then. He’s busy with Rangers now and lots of European games, so we’re in contact. He’s a great goalkeeper. He’s got a lot of experience and played a lot more games than me, which is what I’m striving to get to, having that really strong footballing CV. Hopefully I can do that over the next few years here.”