PAUL RACHUBKA may not be a household name in these parts - but he has had the best possible upbringing as a goalkeeper.
The 22-year-old may have been born in California, but he was raised in Stockport from the age of seven and didn't elude the Manchester United scouts.
Town's newest loan signing went through the ranks at Old Trafford and, in addition to playing three senior matches for Sir Alex Ferguson, he represented England at Under 16, 18 and 20.
Charlton thought enough of him to pay £200,000 to take him to The Valley in May, 2002, and he has since been battling to establish himself against Dean Kiely and Ben Roberts.
A bout of glandular fever in the summer didn't help his chances this term and he arrives at the McAlpine following a loan with Burnley and desperately needing some first-team football.
"I have had the pleasure of training alongside the likes of Peter Schmeichel, Fabien Barthez, Mark Bosnich and Raimond Van Der Gouw and they all influenced me," said Rachubka.
"I had the benefit of being able to talk to them, watch their techniques and learn from them and now I'm hoping to be able to put more of that into practice.
"I've enjoyed the last couple of days here, training with the lads and getting to know them better, because I hadn't had a chance to train with them before the Yeovil match.
"I thought it was a good, hard-working performance from the team and it was certainly a great result.
"I believe Yeovil are one of the better teams in the division, but I thought we controlled the match to a large extent and only conceded a sloppy goal after having more than enough chances ourselves to have killed the game off completely and given them a really good hammering.
"It was a job well done and we are all looking forward from here."
