Keown out to prove he is chip off old block

WHEN your dad is a legend who stood at the heart of Arsenal’s backline for over 300 times and was a rock of England’s rearguard for 43 caps, there is an assumption you would know something about the art of defending.

Niall Keown is hoping the knowledge and advice from old man Martin can help him as he carves out his own career at the centre of a Partick Thistle defence that has yet to taste victory in the league this season.

It’s not for the want of trying. Keown Snr was watching from the stands last Friday when Thistle picked up only their second point of the campaign in a 2-2 draw with Rangers.

He would have been watching from afar when the two teams met again this week on Betfred Cup duty and agonised as Thistle folded in extra-time after grabbing a last-gasp equaliser when they had Rangers rocking.

What words of wisdom he was able to pass on are unknown but it can be assumed this father and son partnership may pay dividends for Alan Archibald’s team.

‘I appreciate his support, he and my mum come to any game they can,’ said 22-year-old Keown. ‘Having him there is good. I play in the same position as he did, so he has an opinion on everything and he puts that across.

‘He’s calm in his opinions really and a different person than he was on the pitch now he’s off it.’ No rollickings then, only calm and assured understanding after a cup defeat that Archibald must attempt to shake from his players’ system this afternoon.

Keown was frustrated by the way the team suddenly lost their dominance as the extra 30 minutes began.

‘We were disappointed at the end of the game,’ he said. ‘What was most disappointing for us was that we didn’t start extra-time as we ended the game in normal time. ‘We were in the ascendancy at the end of the game and we didn’t capitalise on that and it was a bit of a sucker punch in extra-time.

‘Quickly we found ourselves two goals down, so were disappointed with how we did in extra-time.’

Was he confident a few minutes more of normal time could have handed Thistle victory?

‘That’s how we felt,’ said Keown. ‘I thought it was only really one team who was going to win it, if the game had maybe gone on an extra five or ten minutes.

‘That’s something we need to look at and make sure whenever there’s a break in play we start the next half even quicker, as there’s been a couple of times now where we’ve allowed other teams to get on top early on. ‘We need to put that right.’ Keown joined Thistle on loan from Reading in January and made 16 appearances during the club’s highest-placed top-flight finish for 36 years.

He made the move permanent in July, signing a two-year deal.

‘I still had a year left at Reading, so I didn’t have to leave but I enjoyed my loan spell here last season,’ he said.

‘Getting the chance to come back and work with the manager again and be with that same group of players, I was very keen to come back up here. That’s why I made that decision.’ Keown made just two appearances after coming through the Reading academy and admits his move to Thistle was the right thing for his own development as a player.

‘I’ve been waiting to get the chance to play regular first-team football for the last few years,’ he said. ‘Being on the fringes and on the bench at Reading I wasn’t really playing regularly, so it was an easy decision to come here.’

Of course, having the support and advice from a father who made 451 appearances for Arsenal helps.

Thistle sit 11th in the table but Keown believes his side can take positives from their two displays against Rangers for today’s visit of Hearts.

‘We need to take confidence from that,’ he said. ‘We knew we were good enough to do that and we’re still disappointed that we didn’t go one better and win it.

‘We feel we can still compete with Hearts. So we need to channel that disappointment into Saturday’s game.

‘We know how good we are as a team and we know that we haven’t really done ourselves justice in the league so far.’