If West Ham United drop out of the Premier League this season, there will be a few members of Nuno Espirito Santo’s squad who should be exonerated of any blame.
Mateus Fernandes is the first which comes to mind. A pillar of consistency in a side who can take points off Manchester City and Manchester United while also being thrashed by Wolves.
Whatever happens from here on out, Konstantinos Mavropanos, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Crysencio Summerville and particularly Axel Disasi will all end the season with their reputations enhanced at West Ham United.
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The same can certainly be said of Mason Terry a few miles down the road in Essex.
West Ham goalkeeping protege Terry has blossomed at Braintree Town. It is certainly not his fault that The Iron will be playing in the National League South next season.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Terry, Braintree’s relegation would have been confirmed long before that fateful 0-0 draw with Woking on Easter Monday.
West Ham United loanee Mason Terry shines despite Braintree’s relegation
It is fitting, really, that Terry would record yet another clean sheet on the day that Braintree’s relegation was made official. Terry has racked up eleven clean sheets, alongside a host of Man of the Match awards.
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Remarkably, the Canvey Island-born glovesman scored one goal and assisted another during his stint at Cressing Road. Terry scored against Truro City in the National League Cup – a competition in which his parent club would lose in the final to Boreham Wood – before helping to rescue a last-gasp point at Morecambe in March.
Arsenal U18 v West Ham Mason Terry of West Ham in action during the FA Youth Cup Final match between Arsenal U18 and West Ham United U18 at Emirates Stadium
Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Terry therefore joins a very exclusive group of goalkeepers who have scored and assisted a goal in the same season. In the Premier League, only two have ever achieved such a feat; Liverpool giant Alisson Becker in 2020/21, and former Tottenham glovesman Paul Robinson in 2006/07.
When speaking to a ‘devastated’ Steve Pitt following Braintree’s relegation, the reporter asked if he was suffering from a bit of deja vu; ‘A fine performance from Mason Terry, and struggling to score [at the other end]?’
“I’m not disagreeing with you,” Pitt sighed. “But it was a game of fine margins. They didn’t create a lot either. Mason did what Mason does when called upon.
“I’m devastated that we’re in the situation we’re in. We performed a miracle last season, and it was going to take beyond a miracle in all sincerity this season.”
Terry versus Finlay Herrick looms at West Ham
Terry, though, did his fair share of turning water into wine.
What should West Ham do with Finlay Herrick next season? 🧤
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Finlay Herrick during West Ham's FA Cup quarter-final against Leeds.
Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images
The West Ham starlet earned a perfect 10/10 rating on the back of one particularly heroic performance against the aforementioned Truro. Loans and pathways manager Carlton Cole made the trip to Essex recently to catch up with the 21-year-old glovesman, and he has only good things to say about the man hoping to become West Ham’s number one later down the line.
On a weekend in which Finlay Herrick was thrown in at the deep end during West Ham’s penalty shoot out defeat by Leeds, Terry would also see his hard work go unrewarded.
Greater prizes could be just around the corner for both keepers, though; a first-team role at West Ham up for grabs and a pre-season tussle set to make for very interesting viewing.
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