Record-breaking Langfield moves on from clanger

Saturday 15 September 2012

THERE are two sides to every story.

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Frank Gilfeather

The line on Aberdeen this season is their failure to score in all but one of their five league matches. However, they have also conceded only two goals so far. One of them remains the source of some reflection for Jamie Langfield, the Aberdeen goalkeeper.

Langfield's error handed Celtic the only goal in their opening game of the season. Were he younger, or had he not endured a full year out of the game after suffering a brain seizure, the goalkeeper believes he would have taken that mistake to heart. Instead, he has provided a resolute barrier at the back of the team least likely to bother the scoreboards."In the past it would have had a bigger effect on me," he said. "Maybe because of what happened I have a different outlook on things now. When you've been through something like that it does change you. I just put the mistake at the back of my mind and have moved on from it. It would have been easy for the manager to bin me after that but it goes back to people making mistakes."Langfield has lost his place in the Aberdeen first team before, most recently to Jason Brown, when he believed his time in the top division may have been drawing to a close. Instead he will today compete in his 240th top-flight game, a record for his position. It is a statistic of which he was not aware until yesterday. "It makes me feel very old, especially after missing a whole year last season because of my illness," he said. "Also, you have to wonder: does it say I've not been good enough to go elsewhere? Seriously, it's a great honour and I suppose shows that I've been doing something right over the years."Craig Brown, the Aberdeen manager, played down reports of his continued courtship of James McFadden, the former Scotland forward and a free agent after leaving Everton. Brown said he had already exceeded his budget by signing experienced defender Gary Naismith, unavailable for today's game at Inverness, and Mark Reynolds."I have spoken to James intermittently over the past six months and asked him to let me know if Aberdeen was of any interest to him," said Brown. "He more or less said he wouldn't sign for anyone without telling me; that is the impression I got from him. "I would have to go cap in hand to the board for money, though I suspect that I would be wasting my time. I had a special dispensation to get Reynolds and I'm over the budget."Graeme Shinnie, the Inverness Caledonian Thistle left-back, believes Aberdeen's goals-for column hides their true quality. He said: "I've heard they've been creating chances and missing them. It reminds me a bit of us last year when we were doing well and maybe not killing games off."

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Record-breaking Langfield moves on from clanger

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