Jeepers keepers!
Ally McRoberts • Published 10 Feb 2012 09:20
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Chris Smith dives low to his left to keep out Garry Hay's free kick in the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock on Tuesday.
Photo: Craig Brown.
PARS boss Jim McIntyre has another goalkeeping headache after Iain Turner's pre-match injury against Kilmarnock.
The on-loan Preston stopper had to pull out after suffering a back spasm in the warm-up on Tuesday and he'll be a doubt for Saturday.
After the draw with Killie, McIntyre said it was "too early" to say if Turner would make Saturday's TV clash against Rangers.
He remains hopeful, however, and said, "It was a back spasm, he did it in the warm-up, so we took him in and tested him but it wasn't going to work.
"Normally when the back goes into spasm it's a couple of days and it's back to normal."
The Pars haven't had their troubles to seek with goalkeepers after Paul Gallacher's season ended following a shoulder injury against Hearts in December.
McIntyre turned to Chris Smith, who kept goal in the First Division title-winning season but hadn't played for seven months, and he certainly looked rusty with a number of errors leading to goals in the St Johnstone, Inverness and Celtic games.
The January window allowed the Pars to bring in Turner but he has also had a slow start, letting in a soft goal at Motherwell and culpable at Pittodrie when the Dons won 1-0.
On the plus side, despite some nervy clearances from pass backs, Smith's handling was good against Killie and one terrific stop prevented a certain goal.
McIntyre will hope that performance will boost the former St Mirren man's confidence as he could be in action again when the champions come calling.
Post-match, the boss said, "I thought Chris handled it really well.
"The surface was difficult tonight, any pass back was like a bouncing bomb at times and obviously there were a couple that were hard to deal with but in the main he was excellent.
"He had a fantastic save to keep us in the match so I'm really pleased for him."
The boss was also happy with his new recruits from Rangers, Jordan McMillan and Kyle Hutton, although the latter will be prevented from playing against his parent club on Saturday.
McIntyre said, "I was very pleased with them.
"You can see they've got good quality, I thought McMillan used the ball very well in the first half and put a great couple of balls into the strikers.
"He looked to get forward and showed a lot of tenacity.
"Kyle's got composure in the middle of the park and they will get better the more matches they get as, obviously, they've not had a lot of first-team action.
"They will get stronger and stronger which will only benefit the team."
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