There was a rumour doing the rounds of the football world recently that when Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was asked how he felt about missing a penalty against Seville a couple of weeks ago, he had replied: “It has been a strange day in football as Dundee’s Matt Lockwood missed one as well!”
Although that tale is perhaps not totally true, it did come as a surprise to SFL followers to learn that the Dens Park full-back had failed from the spot as he has been deadly from 12 yards since arriving in Scottish football just over a year ago.
After seven successive successes, Lockwood erred at Somerset Park as the Dens Park men defeated Ayr United 3-1 whereas Messi saw an injury time spot-kick saved by Seville goalkeeper Javi Varas as Barca were held to a goalless draw.
Lockwood said: “Seeing Messi miss made me smile as we still won despite me not scoring whereas Barcelona only drew.”
Lockwood had to go back over five years for his last miss as he explained: “I was playing for Leyton Orient and it was against Darlington. I have scored over 50 penalties in my career but I can remember the misses against Carlisle, Cheltenham, Cambridge, Darlington and now Ayr United.”
The 35-year-old revealed that the fatal mistake of changing his mind in the run up helped Kevin Cuthbert to save his effort with Lockwood saying: “It was a bit of a windy day and when I ran up, I decided to go for more power instead of placing it into the corner and that is what probably made me miss it.”
The Englishman’s route to being regarded as a penalty expert began at his local Southend United where he was in the youth team when one time England caretaker boss Peter Taylor was the Manager at the club however, when Taylor was dismissed with two months of the season to go in 1995, it ended Lockwood’s time at Roots Hall.
“The new Manager came in and did not know a thing about the youth team or even care about it and the Chairman and him decided to get rid of all the boys. It was incredibly harsh after serving a two year apprenticeship.”
Ironically, it turned into a good event for Lockwood as he was picked up by Queens Park Rangers, who were a Premiership side, whereas his previous employers were in the division below.
“Ray Wilkins was the Manager and there were players there like Les Ferdinand and Trevor Sinclair but they were relegated and this season is the first time they have been back in the Premiership since,” said Lockwood.
Despite a disappointing end result at Loftus Road, Lockwood had done enough to impress one of the senior players at the club to ensure that he got a move as the London club cut back.
Lockwood explained: “Ian Holloway was in the QPR side at that time and it just goes to show that senior players respect what youngsters are doing in training. He moved to become the Manager at Bristol Rovers and he came in for three of us and took us to Bristol with him.”
Holloway also spotted something in Lockwood that previous Managers had not unearthed with the Dens Park man saying: “I had been a central midfielder and Ian all of a sudden decided I should be a left back. He saw something in me and decided to go with it.
“That is what like he is, what you see is what you get and he is an incredible motivator. What he has done at Blackpool in the last few seasons has been amazing as he took a side tipped for relegation up into the Premiership and almost kept them there.”
Little has changed with Holloway, who is famous for his off the wall TV interviews, with Lockwood saying: “He has not changed and what is great about him is that I could meet him tomorrow and he would know about me being at Dundee. He is like that with everyone in that he keeps tabs on them.”
Lockwood decided to move closer to his London roots after a couple of years in Bristol and began nine years of service at Leyton Orient in 1998 with the defender saying: “I was 21 years old and I found home. I did really well down there and there was talk of interest from Premiership sides but offers were getting turned down.
"I class Orient as my club and they gave me long contracts but it was a bit annoying when talks of a move to West Ham United and Charlton never came to anything. It would have been great to see what would have happened in my career if I had gone to one of these clubs.”
Nottingham Forest eventually managed to prise Lockwood away from Brisbane Road with Lockwood saying: “They came in for me in the January of 2007 and a bid was turned down and eventually a deal was agreed in the summer. I had a two year contract at Orient and a Testimonial in the pipeline but it was too good an opportunity to turn down and also, if I hadn’t left them, I would still be there now.”
Lockwood’s debut was memorable for the wrong reasons as he explained: “I got injured in my first game and that put me out for four months which was a terrible start at such a big club after waiting so long to get there. I couldn’t get back into the team after that whereas if it had been a short term injury, I may well have.
“I signed at the same time as Neil Lennon and Kelvin Wilson under Colin Calderwood and there was a lot of pressure to go up, a lot of pressure, and I think I ended up playing about a dozen games.”
After his season at Forest, Lockwood decided to head down south again to Colchester United on the basis he would get back to what he enjoys best............playing football.
“It turned into the biggest mistake I have made in my career. I went there hoping to play football and you make a call on what you know at the time but I had a nightmare with Managers at Colchester.
“Geraint Williams, who signed me, was sacked six weeks later, and Paul Lambert came in and the first thing he did was sign a left back without even seeing me play. I was injured when he arrived and rather than wait to see what I could do, he brought in another full-back.
"I got some games out on loan because after Paul left for Norwich, Aidy Boothroyd came in and his style of play just did not suit me. I still regret that move.”
Lockwood left Colchester last summer and for the first time in his career, found himself without an employer as he explained: “No-one offered me a job, it was as simple as that. People maybe had a look and said, he did not play much at Southend and that I was old and past it which is their right to do but I thought that at least, I deserved a chance to show what I could do somewhere.
“Craig Easton, who is now back up here with Dunfermline, but I knew from Orient, was at Southend and he arranged with Paul Sturrock for me to go in there and train to save me going off my head. 'Easty' kept on asking what was going in and when I told him nothing was happening, he got in touch with Billy Dodds who was the Assistant Manager at Dundee at the time and told him to have a look at me.”
A quick flight north and Scotland is now home although it has not been plain sailing as Lockwood went through the anguish of the Dark Blues going into Administration just over a year ago just a matter of weeks after he joined.
He said: “It was a scary time when I first arrived and hopefully, not too many players will go through it in their career. I did not get paid for six weeks, was living away from my wife and daughter, and they could not relocate up here with all the uncertainty. The club wanted to keep me on and thankfully, life got a bit more settled.
“It was a huge challenge to keep the club afloat and in the First Division. We did it breaking all sorts of records with a 23 game unbeaten run and 10 clean sheets. Whilst the records may be overtaken in the future, I doubt they will ever be done again with basically only a squad of 11 players.”
Dundee’s achievement was massive as Lockwood explains: “We had a fan that came in and played for us and we brought an ex-player in Neil McCann out of retirement and he scored the winning goal against Raith Rovers. He had a great career here and knew what a big club it was and when he scored, Dens Park nearly erupted.
“Everyone here is still grateful for the efforts from the guys that helped out.”
Despite his intense introduction to footballing life in Scotland, Lockwood remains a fan saying: “I knew a bit about Scottish football before I came up as I am a football fan. I knew about Dundee and they were a big club that just a few years ago had international superstars playing for them.
“Up here, there are Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and then probably Dundee in terms of the size of the club so I jumped at the chance to come up and the target is to get Dundee back into the SPL. We had the players to do that last season as we showed by staying up despite the 25 point handicap. No team was ever going to win promotion with that deduction.”
This season has begun slowly and although last Saturday’s defeat moved Barry Smith’s back into bottom place, there is no sense of panic with Lockwood saying: “It was disappointing to go back to the foot of the table after moving off it when we defeated Ayr. That was good to do as fans and Directors can start getting nervous if you stay there too long but anyone who has seen us will know we have been playing okay.
“We have been struggling to score goals and that is why goalscorers are so expensive but to score three away from home at Ayr with both front men finding the net was a good day
“The Thistle game last weekend was changed dramatically when our goalkeeper Rab Douglas was ordered off in the first half but we will be looking to bounce back this Saturday against Raith Rovers.”
A couple of team-mates have offered to step in Lockwood’s spot-kick shoes as a result of his recent miss and they have been sent on their way with the left back saying: “If we get one against Raith Rovers, I will be taking the ball. In fact, if I miss the next 10, I will still be grabbing the ball to take a penalty.”
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