How Raith Rovers' Josh Rae dealt with being only goalkeeper at club following team-mate's international call-up
Goalkeeper is widely recognised as being the hardest position in a football team, with any mistake made more than likely to cost your team a goal.
And Raith Rovers custodian Josh Rae’s role became even more pressurised earlier this autumn when back-up goalie Luke Armstrong’s Wales under-21 call-up meant that Rae was Raith’s only available keeper for the vital William Hill Championship fixtures at home to Livingston and away to Greenock Morton.
However, when asked if he had been concerned about being Raith’s only recognised goalkeeper or suffered added anxiety about running out for a 50/50 ball against an opposition player and getting injured – which could have resulted in an outfield player being brought on as a substitute - Rae told the Fife Free Press: “No, it happens. I was happy for Luke to get that call-up.
"It wouldn’t really go through my head (the potential consequences of going in for a 50/50 ball).
"I'd say more so in training. It's difficult just working with JC (Rovers goalkeeping coach Jon Connolly).
"When JC put the sessions on he'd kind of tailor it more just to save my body, but I was still putting the work in and just tailoring it a little bit in case something went wrong.
"I did kind of try and watch myself for the couple of weeks a bit more in training.
“But when you get to a match, it's all in or nothing.
"That was difficult in a couple of weeks, but I just went into the games as I normally would, no different.
“And touch wood, if something went wrong we'd just deal with it in the moment. But thankfully, we got through it.
"We never spoke about which outfield player would have gone in goal if I’d got injured but I’d have gone for Jai Rowe, just to header everything away! Jai wouldn’t even need the gloves, just stick his head in the goal and let him header everything!”
These comments by Rae are in reference to a running joke among the Raith squad that right-back Rowe is excellent in the air having already shown his goalscoring prowess at this during the campaign.
Rae and Rowe will be hoping Raith can bounce back from last weekend’s 2-0 home league defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle by taking a victory in their next Championship fixture at Arbroath this Saturday.
Rae said: “Last weekend was one of the games that we just weren't good enough. They were better on the day and we've got to take it and make sure it doesn't happen too many times.
"You all have these sort of games throughout a season, but it's just important that we bounce back. Overall, it's been a positive start to the season.
"No matter when you go to Arbroath, it's a difficult fixture. They'll make it tough, but when we've been beaten this season so far, we've managed to bounce back.