England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence has absolved Paul Robinson of any blame for the freak own goal against Croatia - and backed him to come back strongly.
Robinson could only look on in horror in Zagreb when Gary Neville’s back-pass hit a divot in the pitch and bounced over his foot to make it 2-0.
But the Spurs man also made a string of superb saves and Clemence believes he deserves praise and not criticism for his display on the night.
He said: "It is the sort of incident where people rightly say 'who would be a goalkeeper?' He has made four or five magnificent saves in the game and his total game up until then was absolutely perfect. It is probably as well as he has ever played in an England shirt.
"There was nothing you could do about it. It has just hit a divot. It bobbled up so far he had no time to adjust and it was one of those moments that will stay with him for the rest of his life.
"But he has to think about all the positive things he did in the game and there many of those."
Clemence has worked with Robinson for many years and is confident he will not be affected by the incident.
"He is a strong character," said Clemence. "He is a Yorkshire lad and he has proved over the time he has been in the England team that he can cope with the pressure and he can cope with things that don't go right.
"You have just got to shrug them off and get on with it and he has got more positives to think about than negatives.
"He doesn't have to convince the manager and the coaching staff. We know how good he is."
Clemence believes Robinson has made great strides in the last two years - and the statistics back him up.
The Tottenham man took seven games to earn his first clean sheet for England but was on course to match Gordon Banks' record of seven in a row before Wednesday's disappointment. And he has now kept 16 clean sheets in 31 caps - an amazing record.
Clemence said: "He has got loads of positives to think about. Yes, he is disappointed, we all would be, but there is nothing he can do about it and he will be fine.
"He has developed so much over the last few years and for me the turning point was the Wales game in the World Cup qualifiers when he made an outstanding save. After that save, he appeared to grow another six inches and say 'this place is mine'.
"Apart from today, and I am not blaming him for one of those things that happens to all of us, I can't think of a goal he has let in which you could say 'that was his fault'. He has been outstanding."