Kelle Roos’s debut campaign in Scottish football has been rather eventful. The Aberdeen goalkeeper, signed on a free transfer last summer, was brought in to become the Dons’ first-choice between the sticks and it is an opportunity the Dutchman has seized with both hands.
The season started so promisingly at Pittodrie. By the time the league disbanded to accommodate the winter World Cup in Qatar, Jim Goodwin’s men were third in the standings and flying high. Their remarkable collapse upon domestic football’s resumption culminated in that fortnight where the team were dumped out the Scottish Cup by sixth-tier Darvel and battered by first Hearts and then Hibs in the capital.
Aberdeen’s fate looked bleak indeed only a matter of months ago but it’s an altogether different picture now with Barry Robson at the helm. Saturday’s 1-0 win at McDiarmid Park was the Dons’ fifth in their last six outings – their sole defeat arrived at Celtic Park – and the gap with third-placed Hearts has narrowed to a solitary point with eight games to go.
Roos was sidelined during those final three disastrous defeats of Goodwin’s spell with injury and the 30-year-old missed the first few games of Robson’s tenure, too, before returning for the 3-0 win over Hearts a fortnight ago. Now, the prospect of finishing third doesn’t seem quite so fanciful – but Roos is adamant he never lost faith in the team’s ability.
“I would be lying if I said we didn’t look at the table,” he said. “You are at the point of the season you look at it and it is brilliant we are getting results. It is nice we are creeping up the table but we have to stick with it.
“Hearts are a good team but people are realising we are a good team, too, who is going in the right direction.
“I think if the s*** hits the fan it is never nice. You can either drift apart or you can pull together and I think we have done the latter.
“It is something that the boys that were involved earlier in the season can be proud of. That is when character is made when you are down there but we know football can change overnight. So we not settling for this and we are back to it on Monday.
“I always believed we would get back into the race for third - I can’t speak for the other boys but I did.
“I was out for a little spell injured and I was trying to get back quickly to help the team. I still believe we can get third but there is a long way to go.”
Roos added: “It was hard being out as you want to help the boys. I know I can’t score three goals and turn the game around but I want to do what I can to help.
“When you can’t it isn’t nice but it is life, sometimes these things happen and I had to knuckle down and get back as soon as possible.”
Roos certainly made his presence felt on Saturday afternoon. Andrew Considine’s dismissal a few minutes into the game and Remi Matthews’ own goal on the half-hour mark put the visitors in the driving seat in Perth.
St Johnstone made their opponents work for the win, though, and came within inches of nicking a point at the death. Liam Gordon bulleted a header towards goal, only for Roos to tip the ball onto the crossbar with virtually the final act of the game to ensure the Dons returned home with three points in tow.
“As a goalie you always want to make saves at the big moments of the game,” Roos explained. “I think the one at the end was a big moment, the same for the save in the first half too [Roos denied Considine in the game’s opening exchanges].
“If they scored an early goal it would be a scrappy game so ultimately you are happy to help the team.
“We can pride ourselves on bringing a lot of energy and aggression right now and we are battling together.
“As a goalie you are standing there sometimes not doing anything as you can’t overlap or get tight to people or head balls away. So you have to do your stuff when you are needed.
“It’s another three big points and that’s what we came for. Everyone knows we can play better than that but at the same time we wanted the result and a clean sheet and we got that. Sometimes grinding out a 1-0 win is as good as winning comfortably.”
If securing a hard-fought victory provides that sense of relish for the winners, then surely it yields a similar level of frustration for those on the losing side.
Saints striker Stevie May, though, was encouraged by the way that he and his team-mates remained in the game despite their numerical disadvantage for almost all of the contest – Graeme Shinnie was shown a second yellow in the 91st minute – and believes the team can take confidence from going toe-to-toe with Aberdeen despite Considine’s early red.
“I thought our performance after going down to 10 men was really good,” he said. “I thought we had done enough to get points. I think their keeper has made a lot of good saves and overall we had the better chances.
“Obviously we had to give up possession but I thought we were comfortable throughout the game. You have to give credit to ourselves for that but obviously we are disappointed with the way it went.
“We got into good positions but it was one of those days were nothing would quite break for us. It’s tough to take but the work-rate was there and we were organised. There are certainly positives there.”
