37 Minutes of Heart.

You've sat on the bench for 53 minutes of the match and watched every minute of that game with hopes of walking away with 3 points. The other keeper playing cuts off a hard driven ball to the front post and seems to be rather routine until you see the ball dribble out of his hands and end up in the back of the net, followed by a celebration of a happy striker who thinks he's managed to tie the game up 1-1. The ref has whistled the play dead and decided to claim a foul on the keeper as the striker made contact with him, the only problem here is the keeper is not getting up. Infact the stretcher is coming out and he's coming off. "Cam get warmed up, you might be going in," was all I heard before I found myself jogging down the touch line trying to get loosened up before I stepped over that white line. The chance I have been waiting for, the one I've been training for since I stepped off the plane a few months ago now. A little talk with the coach to help me get settled in, up to the linesman for a quick stud check and down into the goals with the Arbroath fans, who were waiting to tell me how great they thought I was. Before the game our coach talked about how supportive we are as a unit, if one player is having an off day, the next player beside him will be there to help lift him and support him. This is definately one of the few teams I have played for where I've seen such a tight bond. Through my 37 minutes of play my teammates gave me tons of support as we worked for one another to claim the 1-0 victory. I've played infront of 3,000 fans down in the USA with the Des Moines Menace of the PDL but the atmosphere in this match was way louder as the passion was driven behind the fans of the Arbroath, with the belief that they could take advantage of this freshly substituted keeper. The guys infront of me played absolutely solid, clearing anything that came into the box only allowing two shots, with one of them being off side. The decision for the referee to end the game seemed like forever but it was a pleasure to hear when it went and to see nothing but my teammates lift their hands in the air with joy. It's always a great feeling to go into a match knowing that the guys infront of your are solid players. This was a good taste of what it's all about and I look forward to the next opportunity when it presents itself. Hopefully it will be from the 1st minute one day, I don't fancy myself as a supersub, but it was definately been another story to tell about my adventure over here. A high intense finish to a 37 minutes end in a match where the lads played with their hearts and gave it everything to maintain their 3rd position in the table. A big game next weekend, with a win could push us up into second position.

Cowdenbeath 1-0 Arbroath