Superman For The Day.

A wise man once told me that there is a new magical man in Scotland and he's looking for an opportunity to prove himself. You never know when the chance will come and there is always the question of "will you take it when it comes?" The whole week there was something special building up inside the team. A chance to take over 2nd place in the tables and an opportunity to get closer to being number 1. On Friday night I had spent some time talking on the phone with someone I would say is the true magical man of Scotland. He always calls when things seem to be getting tough and always manages to restore the belief in what I'm trying to achieve. On your journey to success and your dreams you will struggle, but when you get there, you'll look back on those difficult times and remember, the battles you won on and off the field to get there. Another call just after that conversation came from the keeper coach himself, just asking me how I was feeling and to wish me luck. At that point I wasn't sure if I was going to be starting in goals against Brechin. The phone rang on Saturday morning and when I picked up, the gaffer asked me how I was feeling. I told him I felt good and I would be ready, just go out there and do my thing. Probably the most short and sweet conversation he's ever had with any player as I'm not one to talk the talk, I'd rather show it on the field. A little flash back occured to me about a conversation I had with the magical man of Scotland where he said to me, "big man, when you get your chance, all you have to do is go out and play super man for the day." I took this along with my thoughts of what I had to do to be at my best. Once I finally got to the changeroom the announcement was made that I'd be in goals, from that point on it seemed like forever before I could get my warm up in. Not because I was nervous, more so because I was ready to show my coaches and teammates what I can do. I had a really good warm up, everything felt natural and anything that came into me I was going to hold onto. This match was special for myself being my first starting debut, but more importantly my team was looking to move into 2nd place. I felt confident from the start to the finish because I knew no matter what happened the guys infront of me were going to be solid right through to the final whistle. I came out for a cross and could hear the defender getting in the way of a Brechin striker, I've never felt so protected taking a cross. The match itself wasn't a top performance, definately not the level of play that Cowdenbeath is able to produce on the field. With 10 minutes left in the match Brechin had their best chance to clinch the 3 points forcing me to make 2 saves in a row before my defenders cleared the ball. I appreciated the efforts of the players infront of me as they cleared most of the possible threats through the entire match. When the final whistle went, a few heads dropped because all week the team thought about beating Brechin and moving up in the table. Even though I was disappointed that we didn't come away winners on the day, I felt I couldn't have performed any better on my debut infront of the home crowd. As the team gathered in the changeroom after the match I had some thoughts wishing my family back home in Canada and girlfriend could have been in the stands to share this with me, as they know everything that has gone on behind the scenes to get this far on my journey. I guess this is one of the feelings you deal with when you're playing outside of your home country. On the plus side it will be hard for my dad to yell at me for my errors from behind the goal now, just like I was 9 years old. Another week begins and the chase continues to get to the top, but there is all the possibility to get there. Fife derby next week against East Fife.




Cowdenbeath 0-0 Brechin