SAFE HANDS

Aberdeen dream of title glory thanks to shut-out king Brown’s

THAT’S what f ans do, they dream,’ says Scott Brown, a big grin spreading across the English goalkeeper’s face. ‘Every time England go to a World Cup, I think they’re going to win it — but they never do! I still believe Wolves are going to win the Championship…’

Much hilarity ensues as Aberdeen’s last line of defence desperately tries to deflect talk of rising expectations among Dons fans, currently enjoying their team’s status at the top of the Scottish Premiership. And planning for an extended stay in pole position.

It’s not that Brown is actively mocking the notion that he and his team-mates might be good enough t o go t he distance. He’s a confident enough big lad, pretty sure of both his own ability and that of the guys in front of him.

Quite frankly, though, the former Cheltenham Town goalie gives away even less in conversation than he does out on the field. Quite an achievement for a man boasting a seven-match run of clean sheets.

An eighth shut- out away to St Mirren today would elevate Brown — commiserating after a 2-0 away loss to Burton Albion this time last year, by his reckoning — into some rarefied company in the Aberdeen hall of legends.

Yet the man who shares a training ground with a genuine great every day r e mai n s unblinkingly focused on the job in hand; if concentrating is 80 per cent of a goalkeeper’s job, Brown will be OK for a good while yet.

The 29-year-old, whose move to Pittodrie in the summer represents the highlight of a career that has taken him from the Wolverhampton youth system to Welshpool Town, Bristol City and then Cheltenham, l oves working with f ormer Aberdeen, Manchester United and Scotland No 1 Jim Leighton, the Dons goalkeeping coach. As long as nobody mentions records.

‘We’ve not spoken about it,’ said Brown. ‘We don’t really want to l ose focus. At the end of the season, I’m sure we’ll look back on it and say: “Yeah, that was a great record”. But it’s still the middle of the season, we’re talking only about the next game.

‘I’m definitely a better goalie now than I was last season. Working with a full-time goalkeeping coach and with better quality players has helped me massively.

‘I enjoy coming into training and working hard and trying to get better. That’s what I’ve done throughout my career.

‘I’ve always wanted to better myself and push myself as far as I can. Coming up here, I thought I could do that with Aberdeen.

‘A big part of the appeal was to have Jim Leighton working with me as goalkeeper coach, a full-time goalie coach every day was massive. I’d never had that full-time before.

‘Jim is great and so is Jamie Langfield, each passing on little pieces of advice. I’d be stupid not to listen to both of them. Jim goes through videos of our games, pointing out little things that can help you get better. Every little percentage adds up. At the start of every single game, our aim is to keep a clean sheet. At the moment, that’s what we’re doing. St Mirren will be no different.

‘I don’t go in there thinking: “Oh, we’ve kept seven in a row, this will be another one”. There are no guarantees. It’s a fresh start for 90 minutes.

‘Obviously keeping a clean sheet gives us a chance of winning games. That’s the most important thing.

‘I’ve always believed in myself. Keeping a few clean sheets doesn’t make any difference to that. I think I kept 20 or 21 clean sheets a couple of seasons ago and that was a good year. I certainly didn’t think I’d keep seven clean sheets in a row, that’s for sure.’

Brown and the back four take the l i on’s share of the credit f or preventing the opposition from actually scoring, although the goalie and his defenders are always quick to acknowledge the debt owed to their team-mates; for a starting XI regularly packed with attacking talent, Aberdeen don’t half work hard at disrupting the opposition.

Derek McInnes uses the word ‘horrible’ in the best possible way to describe the aggressive pressing game likely to be deployed any time St Mirren get a sniff of the ball today. The harder they work, the more chance they have to catch opponents in possession — crucial when so many teams are likely to sit in and defend against the Dons.

‘Every manager and coach just wants their team to be really horrible and difficult to play against,’ said the Aberdeen manager.

‘We try to make sure we are that team, while also being the kind of team that carries a goal threat. At the moment, we’ve got that balance right.

‘There is no secret formula to that, you need a lot of hard work and organisation with a lot of strong individual performances. I think that is what we have got at the moment.

‘I think we’d all recognise that, while the spotlight falls on the back four and goalkeeper in a run of clean sheets, it’s a reflection of the whole team.

‘ There is a lot of hard work getting done ahead of the back four — and ahead of the midfield, even, with strikers putting people under pressure and not giving teams a minute.

‘The idea is to keep opposition chances to a minimum and that has been the case in the majority of games.

‘Maybe Scott Brown had a few saves to make in the Inverness game but, for the most part, his saves have been at a minimum.

‘That is down to a strong team performance. Just as it is when a team is not scoring goals — it’s a reflection of the whole team, not the strikers.

‘I would like to think that we’ve been strong defensively because of the whole team.

‘We’ve always tried to impose ourselves on the game. While we recognise that we have good players who are good on the ball, who use it well and want to get on the ball and take the game to the opposition, there are two sides to any game.’