‘Posh will not think favourably of him’ - the Peterborough verdict on Portsmouth target Will Norris

That’s the view of Peterborough Telegraph reporter Ben Jones, who believes the 29-year-old’s time at London Road will be defined by the shock loss.

The keeper was this week linked with a move to Fratton Park, with Pompey weighing up a swoop for the now free agent.

Norris spent the second half of the campaign on loan with Posh, where he kept 11 clean sheets in 24 outings. He has since been released by Burnley.

But the stopper’s time with Darren Ferguson’s side will be overshadowed by their play-off disappointment, which saw Sheffield Wednesday overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit to reach the Wembley final

Despite his Hillsborough performance, Jones believes he played a major role in their impressive run-in helping them to a top six finish.

He told The News: ‘I think he was what we needed at the time. We had a couple of inexperienced goalkeepers, Lucas Bergstrom who started the season well but his form had dipped significantly and we also had Will Blackmore from the academy.

‘We needed an experienced head, someone with a bit of calmness to sure up the back line and Will Norris did provide that.

‘His time at the club will be defined by that game at Hillsborough. When the big moment came around he did go missing there. Posh fans will not think favourably of him anymore.

‘That game is going to live with him for years and years but if you are able to take that game aside, then it was a successful spell. He did the job the club wanted.

‘However, there was that big pressure moment in that game and he sort of folded. I wouldn’t say that game was how he performed for Posh before that and some of the saves he made got us to that situation.

‘He’s someone who can play out from the back, very cool and calm on the ball but sometimes is too calm where he is so relaxed. He can get your heart going when he has the ball at the back but does rarely give it away.

‘He very much about his playing out from the back. Ferguson said after his first game ‘He’s very calm on the ball, sometimes too calm’. Having watched him for half a season, I know what he means!

‘I would genuinely say it was a good loan spell, if we’d have carried on with the keepers we had I don’t think we would’ve reached the position we finished in.

‘He doesn’t strike me as a very commanding keeper. He would come out but not claim it. If you watched the Wednesday game, you’d have to put a couple of those goals that night down to him just because he doesn’t come off his line and make his presence felt.

‘Every now and then he’d have a game like that but there’s a handful of games where we wouldn’t have won it without big saves from him.

‘I wouldn’t rule him out and I definitely don’t think he’d be a bad signing for Pompey. He’s a decent goalkeeper, I wouldn’t put him among the league’s elite but if a team is looking for the play-offs he would be an adequate goalkeeper.’