Two Pairs

Pro goalkeepers change gloves all the time, some have a new pair for every match. My budget, not to mention my very much amateur status mean that I hang on to gloves for a lot longer. And given that us keepers can be a funny lot, if a pair has served me well, I am in no hurry to get rid of them...no matter how tatty...or smelly they get.

And that is true of these two pairs here, but they are now sat in my outside bin, too many tears and cant shift the odour!

These gloves have seen a decent bit of action and I've been lucky to have played in some charity friendly matches against some great ex-pros, with lots of great memories.

The pair on the left were worn a few years ago when I played in a 'Scotland' team managed by Kenny Dalglish and we defeated an English team managed by Sir Geoff Hurst! The pair on the right were worn in a game in 2009 when I played against King Kenny! He came on in the second half (one of life's wow moments!) and I kept him out. The match ended 3-3 but we lost on penalties and there was to be no fairytale ending, Kenny sent me the wrong way!

Yesterday I played in another game against some of the Scottish FA coaches. We got a bit of lesson and lost heavily. Despite a nice penalty save (of which I have a lovely photo to add to collection) I probably could've played better - but the chance to play against these guys meant it was hard to be too disappointed at full time.

My ankles aren't in great shape but they hurt on occasions when I walk, so figuring that standing in goals isn't going to make much difference and my plan is to keep playing....starting again tomorrow!

PS the little band at the bottom of photo is a friendship bracelet my daughter made for me which sits in my glove bag. This is not being thrown out with the gloves!