Richard Lee will make his 100th first-team start for Watford against Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow unless something unexpected happens in the interim.

The 26-year-old will doubtless be hoping to celebrate the milestone with a Hornets victory and, hopefully a clean sheet, but whatever happens at Vicarage Road in the game and, indeed, during the rest of his career, he will be able to look back on the penultimate week of October 2008 with a sense of pride. For Lee’s achievement of saving three penalties in the space of two league matches is thought to be unprecedented in the modern game,.

One person who has never seen the like of it is his goalkeeping coach and good friend Alec Chamberlain, who said: “It’s quite a unique thing. The only person I can remember having such a good time with penalties was Paul Cooper when I was first starting out at Ipswich Town. He had a real reputation and psychologically out-witted the penalty takers before they took them.

“I wouldn’t say it’s quite got to that level yet, but certainly Richard is very, very agile, as well all know, and he has saved a lot in penalty shoot-outs in the past in cup matches for us and he’s done well enough in the matches, but this run is incredible.”

The Oxford-born stopper paid tribute to the background information provided by Chamberlain and other members of the Hornets backroom team, both after denying David McGoldrick and Paul Wotton from 12 yards at Southampton on Saturday, and Cardiff City’s Ross McCormack three days later at Vicarage Road, but these three occasions are not the first time he has proved himself adept at saving spot-kicks. So what is his secret?

“Richard’s made his mind up before the game’s started really, to do with right-footers and left-footers, he’s got his theories himself,” said the Hornets former number one, speaking at Watford’s London Colney training ground yesterday lunchtime.

“He’s a bright kid, so he’s worked things out for himself, but with this background information that we give him – and it’s not all my doing, that’s from Martin Hodge [Opposition Analyst] and at Southampton it was Mark Tyler who spotted the penalty taker’s picture in the programme.

“But if you’ve got that kind of confidence – ‘well, I kind of know what he does normally’ – then I guess you will be more committed to going that way. With his reflexes and agility it’s a good combination. His reflexes are important because you can dive one way but if the ball’s hit low or a bit higher than you’re diving, to still make that save, that’s the difference,” Chamberlain added.

Lee’s achievement is remarkable in itself, but the fact he’s achieved it in a Watford shirt is testament to a player who has made a habit of bouncing back from whatever life, or indeed the club he has been with 16 years, has thrown at him.

“He’s had a rollercoaster of a time here at Watford,” Chamberlain acknowledged. “He’s been here since he was ten years old, so he’s been here longer than I have in real terms.

“Let’s just talk about Aidy’s time. He played and then he was injured with his knee, then the following season he went out on loan to Blackburn, really almost in the wilderness there.

“He was playing reserve-team football and I saw him play one game up at Morecambe. With the greatest of respect, it was so far removed on the coast. It was a pretty ugly night when I saw him play as well, the rain was coming down, and you felt ‘where is his career going from here?’

“But, thankfully, he’s got that strength of character about him to just come back and say ‘no, I’m here, I’m going to have a go, I’m going to train hard, I’m going to prove you wrong, I’m going to get myself in your team’.

“With Ben [Foster] still here that Premiership season I was supposed to be going to be second choice but I got injured in pre-season and Richard’s performances deservedly got him in front of me.

“Last year again he had another knock back,” the 44-year-old continued. “We signed Poomy {Mart Poom], Poomy was first choice and then Poomy got injured and he was ready to come in and take his chance.

“It shows a lot about his professionalism, about his character, the fact that he’s not prepared to take these knocks and lie down. He just keeps coming and training and putting his work in, waiting for his next chance and this season’s been the perfect example.

“He played 40 games last year for us and I think, quite rightly, he would have been expecting to start this season, then unfortunately he got injured in pre-season in Austria. Poomy did have a fantastic pre-season I will say and Scott Loach was obviously in and around it as well.

“In the time Richard was out Scott had got himself a few games and had done well to warrant being given that place on the bench. Richard was sort of looking at maybe going out on loan and then we had an incredible week when we lost two goalkeepers which, again, is pretty unprecedented. In my career I’ve never heard of anything like it.

“I just think Richard’s a great lad, I’ve got a lot of time for him as a person and obviously professionally I think he’s got a lot to offer and we were saying around the table this morning in the staff room, if there’s a better goalkeeper in terms of keeping the ball out of the net in our division, I’d like to see him.”