LOOK ROOS No.1
Dutchman’s dethroned Lewis for boss Goodwin
KELLE ROOS is set to start the Premiership season as Aberdeen’s new No.1 with Joe Lewis facing a huge fight to reclaim his place between the sticks.
Dons boss Jim Goodwin revealed he has spoken to stalwart Lewis about the situation and told him that summer signing Roos has his hands firmly on the jersey with just 12 days until the curtain-raiser at Celtic Park.
The Dutchman will start for a third successive Premier Sports Cup tie against Stirling Albion this evening.
But while former captain Lewis has been dethroned, Goodwin is hoping to unveil the ‘Duk’ – Luis Lopes – in the Forthbank clash.
Lopes made the £400,000 switch to Pittodrie from Benfica B last week and his work permit was completed last night so the 22-year-old is likely to take his place on the bench.
Should that be the case he will find himself beside Lewis who after six seasons and 207 appearances now finds himself playing back-up in the goalkeeping stakes.
Goodwin said: “I’m not into rotating and moving things about too much as I take this competition very seriously.
“Kelle has got the jersey at the moment and kept a couple of clean sheets.
“I’ve had a conversation with Joe about the situation and he knows he had a poor season last time.
“He’s honest enough to admit that but he has come back in terrific form in preseason. So we have got a battle on there but Roos has the jersey at the moment knowing the level of competition behind him.”
Tonight’s game comes too soon for Bojan Miovski while Connor Barron is also set to miss out again through injury.
Goodwin, who is targeting another three new signings in this window, said: “Lopes is very good with his back to goal and links the game up well. He has pace and power.
“In training today he showed some of his qualities.
“He has a hell of a strike on him from distance and always seems to work the goalkeeper. What I have seen in the flesh backs up the footage I have watched.
“Miovski is probably another two or three days away. I would be confident of having him available for the Raith Rovers game.”
Goodwin praised the Dons board for their backing in the window and insists he’s not finished yet.
He said: “The board deserve to be congratulated for their level of investment as we paid a hefty transfer fee for Miovski.
“We had to pay money to get [ Jayden] Richardson out of Forest, [Ylber] Ramadani out of MTK and prior to me coming in big investment in [Vicente] Besuijen as well. It’s great that I’m at a club where those sorts of resources are available but it not an endless pot of money.
“I would still like another attacking midfielder and defender as well as a central midfielder.”
Meanwhile, former Aberdeen captain Darren Young admits it is a free hit for his Stirling side.
Young spent eight years at Pittodrie as a player and said: “The Aberdeen game is a free hit, no one is expecting anything.
‘But we will have a game plan and hopefully we can execute it as well as we did on Saturday.
“It will be good for our boys to test themselves against Premiership opposition and see the level you can get to up the ladder.”