Arbroath host Brechin City at Gayfield this weekend in a game that could be crucial in terms of moving divisions at the end of the season, however it is not the Play-Offs either club should be heading for according to Red Lichtie defender Alex Keddie.
The 32-year-old thought that both clubs would be going for promotion this season and not battling it out at the other end of the table. After defeats from Airdrie and East Fife over the festive period Keddie’s side sit second bottom and the big centre back is hoping that the first half of 2014 sees his side work their way out of trouble.
Keddie said: “This is a big game as both sides are at the wrong end of the table. It is a real 6 pointer of a game and we need to get our act together for it. In our last two games I don’t want to blame luck or not getting the rub of the green but we only played in fits and starts.”
“We are not doing the right things at the right times and we have just not done enough to get anything from these games.”
The position of his side in ninth and the Glebe Park men just one place above surprises Keddie who said: “Both Brechin and Arbroath are good clubs and should be doing well in this division. People talk about the mentality of winning but the reverse is also true in that you can get into the mentality of losing.”
“We are both better than our league position would indicate but we are not performing as we should. I am not sure why we are struggling as I thought we would be heading for the play-offs at the start of the season.”
“Now we want to avoid the play-offs at the other end but we have good players and a good manager and we will get out of things.
Whilst the two Angus clubs have underperformed others have fared better with Keddie adding: “Other clubs are over performing especially my old side Stranraer who are putting in a great campaign to get into the promotion play-offs. They have experienced players and good goalscorers and that is just two of the reasons they are doing so well.”
Experience is one thing that Arbroath do not have in abundance as Keddie explained: “We have good young players here in both defence and attack but we will not see the best of them until next season.”
“Hopefully we can see this season out safely and make sure that guys like Michael Travis go on to have a much better time of things next year.”
Keddie added: “When I was a young player growing up you looked to experienced players to help you out in difficult situations. At that time you would learn from these guys in reserve games but now it is a case of players having nowhere else to go when they hit 18 apart from a first team.”
The centre back’s own experience goes all the way back to Elland Road as he said: “I started off my football career at Leeds United and then headed back to St Johnstone before taking a break from the game to study surveying.”
“I tell the young players at Arbroath to keep their ears open and listen and that is the advice I got from the experienced guys I played with at Leeds. I learned from David Weatherall and Lucas Radebe and they were not a bad two to learn from as they were fantastic players at a Premiership level.”
“When I came back to Scotland I worked with Alan Kernaghan and Jim Weir at St Johnstone and again they were terrific to learn from.”
That grounding helped him as he explained: “I have been fortunate in my career even though I never played at a senior level until I was 25. I am really proud of the amount of games that I have played in. I have won a few medals along the way but playing regularly over the past 9 years has been my best achievement.”
“I know that I do not have the greatest ability in the world but I had a desire to do well and that has done my career well.”
Keddie made his breakthrough at Stranraer were he played for one year before heading to Ross County in 2006 for a 4 year period.
It was an eventful time in the Highlands as he explained: “After being part-time I went up to Ross County where we had our ups and downs but of course we won through to a Scottish Cup Final. I had gone there and we were relegated to the Second Division in my first season. To win the league and get to a showpiece Final within two years of that was terrific. It really was the stuff that dreams are made of.”
The semi-final is a brighter memory than the Final all the same with Keddie saying: “We went to Hampden for the semi-final against Celtic and that was a great day as no-one had given us a chance. We won 2-0 because we had a togetherness in our team that was terrific.”
“We went back to face Dundee United but that was probably a game too far against the best United team in years. Going to Hampden to the Final was amazing and I soaked up the atmosphere. The Cup Final always seems to be on a good day and that was the case for our game.
“The sun might have shone but we were comprehensively beaten 3-0.”
Despite qualifying in surveying Keddie decided against combining a career in that discipline with playing football and he now sees a daily reminder of where his choices have taken him.
“I never really got too into Surveying despite my qualification as I always wanted to work for myself,” said Keddie before adding, “I have ended up running my own barbers, The Battlefield Barbers at Battlefield Road in the south side of Glasgow so you are never sure how things will turn out. “
“I have not had an Arbroath fan in looking for their hair cut but I did have one from one of my previous clubs Dunfermline a short while ago so football gets into all aspects of your life.”
“I can see Hampden from my work and it always makes my smile when I think I played in a Scottish Cup Final there. In fact I played there 4 times as I played against Queen’s Park twice. Three wins out of four is not too bad going.”
As for giving Brechin the brush off this weekend Keddie said: “It is our first home game of 2014 and we want to get 2014 off to a flying start at Gayfield. We know we can score goals but we have to stop conceding them. If we can do that against Brechin we will have made a good step forward.”
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