Alex Palmer’s Premier League dream comes true as 28-year-old Ipswich star enjoys very good debut at Aston Villa

Alex Palmer’s man-of-the-match performance in Ipswich‘s goal should inspire any player with a Premier League dream.

After a career in the lower leagues, all the way down to Kidderminster, Palmer made his top-flight debut on Saturday aged 28 and was a sensation in denying Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio, Morgan Rogers, Ian Maatsen.

He also pulled off a remarkable reflex stop in injury-time following a ricochet off his own player, Conor Townsend.

There to see Palmer’s heroics after signing from West Brom last month, was his mum, Lisa.

‘She’s proud,’ said the goalkeeper. ‘I gave her a wave and blew her a kiss, along with my wife.

‘My mum had three kids to ferry around playing football and horse riding. She was able to do that and it’s one of the big reasons I’m here today.

Goalkeeper Alex Palmer finally made his Premier League debut on Saturday at the age of 28

Englishman Palmer made six saves to help 10-man Ipswich Town hold Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw

Palmer pictured blowing kisses to family members in the crowd after full-time at Villa Park

‘All the loans and clubs I’ve played for, this is what it has all led to. I’ve been around long enough to know, “if it happens, it happens”. That’s the way I take life.’

It all helped Ipswich earn a precious point in their relegation fight. They’d been reduced to 10 men when Alex Tuanzebe was sent off after 40 minutes but still took the lead through Liam Delap before Ollie Watkins’ reply.

Villa slipped to ninth but were buoyed by an impressive 45 minutes from Marcus Rashford who can now expect to feature against Liverpool on Wednesday.

It was his free-kick against the bar that set up Watkins’ equaliser.