Raith Rovers: New goalkeeper Aidan Glavin recounts saving six penalties in one match!

The 20-year-old goalkeeper, who has penned a one-year deal in Kirkcaldy after several years at Kilmarnock, was on loan at Elgin City when he stopped one extra-time spot kick in a Scottish Cup second round tie at Borough Briggs before saving another five in the subsequent penalty shoot-out as Elgin beat Clyde 8-7 on spot kicks following a 1-1 draw.

"I go with my gut,” 20-year-old Bellshill-born Glavin – who recently received a Scotland under-21 call-up – told Raith TV on his penalty saving tactics. “There’s no real strategy behind it, there’s no real technique. It’s just whatever I feel is the right decision I make it.

"And if I go the right way I happen to make the save. It’s just about using my ability and my gut and my instincts to go the right way and make the save.”

Glavin said it felt good to have joined Rovers, where he hopes to get some game time and push on.

He added: "I joined Kilmarnock at 14 and I’ve been there until the end of last season, kind of just working my way up through all the different age groups, 18s, breaking into the first team training wise and getting a couple of loans which have been really good for me.

"Dealing with the coaches I dealt with there has helped me to progress to become the player I am today. It’s been an enjoyable journey.

“I think now is the right time to step away from that and further my career.”

Glavin’s career so far has included loan spells at Beith Juniors, Glenafton Athletic, Auchinleck Talbot and Scottish League Two outfit Elgin , for whom he played 31 times last season.

He said: “I think the juniors were probably the best thing for me at that age. It’s never going to be the most technical, nice football that everybody likes, but it’s rough, it’s tough and it’s the other side of the game you need to learn.

"And learning in that environment at a younger age set me up for my other loans that I had.

"Although Elgin were part-time it was still that full-time thought in the back of their minds.

"The manager kind of acted as if they were a full-time team, the intensity in training and what he expected in games was as though we were playing in a higher league. So I think having that mindset helped the season we had as a team and my playing style.”