Confidence oozes from James Trafford as he speaks, but was he expecting things to be quite so good for him at Burnley this season?
“Not really,” he tells Sky Sports with a smile.
“I obviously knew about how good we are as individuals. But we’ve consistently put in really good defensive performances, and it’s left us at 11 clean sheets in a row.
“We’ve got there by just taking it game by game and not really thinking too far forward.”
The records speak for themselves. As well as the run of shutouts, Trafford has conceded just nine goals in 33 games this season. This Burnley side under Scott Parker are on track to be the best defence in English football history.
Perhaps the most impressive part is that this is not a team of veterans dripping with experience. Trafford, and the two centre-backs in front of him in Maxime Esteve and CJ Egan-Riley, are all just 22 and playing their first full seasons in the Championship.
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Take a look at the best bits from Trafford’s record-breaking Championship record of 11 clean sheets in a row
“It helps how close we are as mates,” says Trafford – who as part of the run picked up the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month award for January. “CJ and Max are top, top players, we’re all 22 and we’ve all got big futures in the game.
“The way we all play complements each other well. Those two definitely do, on and off the ball.
“We’ve found a system that complements us all, and we’ve all found our own way to do what we’re good at. It’s probably why we’ve done so well.
“As a whole unit you can see what it’s like when we lose the ball. We’ve had those habits through the season. We are always executing what the gaffer wants us to do, and it’s left us in this position.”
One of the major subplots emerging from Turf Moor has been the friendly wager that Trafford placed with JJ Watt – the former NFL star who is a minor shareholder in Burnley.
Back in December, Trafford texted Watt asking if he would come out of retirement to play for the Cincinnati Bengals, the team he supports. Watt told him then that if he did not concede a goal for the rest of the season he would do just that.
“I remember watching a Bengals game and the quarterback Joe Burrow was getting thrown about a bit, and I thought I’d just message him for a bit of banter,” Trafford recalls.
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“Now as every game has gone on it’s just gained a little bit more traction every time.
“It’s all just a bit of fun. He’s over in a couple of weeks I think, so it’ll be nice to see him if we still haven’t conceded.”
I doubt Watt expected to still be sweating on it two months later. Especially considering part of that run saw Trafford save two late penalties against Sunderland to secure a 0-0 draw last month.
It was one of the most memorable, dramatic moments of the season, as Trafford used every trick in the book to confound Wilson Isidor, denying him from 12 yards twice in the 86th minute and then again deep in stoppage time.
Trafford, with the same wry grin seen in his post-match interview that night, downplays the feat.
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There was plenty of penalty drama between Sunderland and Burnley, as Trafford saved two Wilson Isidor spot-kicks, leaving the Frenchman in tears
“If you take out the minute it happened, and you take out the context of the game, I essentially just saved two penalties,” he says.
“I knew that he was either going down the middle or to the right, so I essentially saved two penalties down half a goal.
“Obviously it was brilliant and there was all the noise around it. It was a massive moment for us and a whole lot of fun. But it wasn’t one of the highlights of my career.
“There are other things I’ve done since that have probably brought me more enjoyment and more pleasure, and that sense of development.
“But I do know the two penalty saves were miles more entertaining than me working on not flinching as much on a first-time shot on a cutback!”
There is no doubting Trafford is on the rise as a goalkeeper. His performances this season have been all the more impressive against the backdrop of a challenging first campaign with Burnley, when he played 28 times in the Premier League as they were relegated under Vincent Kompany.
The England U21 goalkeeper merely looks back on it as a learning experience now.
“I started the season as a 20-year-old goalkeeper in the Premier League,” he says. “I can’t think of too many others who have done that off the top of my head.
“It was always going to be tough in a team that were one of the favourites to get relegated, but it was something I embraced and I always stuck to the challenge throughout the season.
“From the first game to the last I improved massively, and it’s something I’ll take with me for the rest of my career.”
