THE life of a goalkeeper can be a lonely existence.
Albert Camus composed existential literature on the subject, while Wim Wenders attempted to articulate it on celluloid. But at least the occupant of the opposite goalmouth knows what you are going through.
When Dean Brill crumpled to the turf at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on Saturday lunchtime in agony with a left knee cap that was at best dislocated and at worst fractured, just 14 minutes into his recovery from an apparently identical problem, no-one sympathised more than Craig Gordon, a man whose career is continuing in outright defiance of a series of knee tendon and ligament injuries. The injury will deprive Brill of the chance to participate in Caley Thistle's first visit to the national stadium in 11 years, the Scottish Cup semi final between these two teams on Sunday. Right now, though, that might just be the least of the 29-year-old's worries.
"It looked bad at the time," said Gordon. "You know it's serious when a keeper goes down like that. It was similar to the one suffered by Fraser Forster recently. Let's hope he makes a speedy recovery. It's never nice but he had just come back from injury and was back in the team so to have to go off after just a few minutes will be hard to take.
"He'll need to speak to the specialists but it looks like it could a long way back for him," he added. "Once he gets his head around that it's a case of setting himself small goals to getting back. That's what I did, then ticked them off as I went along. I had the end goal of playing football again. His will be to get back in the team here. That will give him focus but it will be tough for him at the moment. Dean's got a contract, which is something. He's going to face a period of time out but hopefully the medical staff can do everything they can to help him get back."
One man's misfortune is another's opening, though, and opportunity knocks for the experienced Ryan Esson, at the age of 35, to step into the breach. If the veteran has as comfortable an afternoon next Sunday as he faced during his time on the field on Saturday, then Celtic's treble chances could be in bother. The icy gale which blew in off the Moray Firth didn't help, nor did a sticky, dry pitch, but few of the flair players involved in this game managed to excel. The game's two goals had come and gone within five minutes, Leigh Griffiths opening the scoring with a fine low finish, then Edward Ofere equalising from close range after Jason Denayer had blocked a Ryan Christie effort.
Although Celtic feel they were harshly treated when Scott Brown was yellow carded by referee Craig Thomson when he went down in the box after contact with David Raven, most of it was feisty, attritional stuff. While it will be a different venue and a different Celtic team on Sunday - Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven are cup tied, for a start - it is a war which will reconvene at Hampden on Sunday. First, the Parkhead club have the minor inconvenience of a league meeting with Kilmarnock to negotiate.
"It's a good little reminder we are in for a big fight next week," said Gordon. "The one thing for sure is that we know we are in for a battle. This was a case of both teams wanting to win the battle to allow themselves to play but there was nothing untoward. Neither team wanted to lose ahead of the game next week. Everyone was trying to get one over their opponent. But I don't think it will really have any bearing. It's a different venue, a different pitch. The pitch at Hampden will help us, but it will be good for them too as they like to pass the ball as well."
Booking controversy aside, this was a fine display from Scott Brown, although there was no quarter given against him by the warlike Ross Draper. "I came up here to go toe-to-toe with players like him," said the Englishman. "That's why you're in the game, you don't want to shirk a challenge. We'll look forward to facing him next week."
Should Inverness can go to Hampden and win this Sunday, sentiment dictates that their victory will be dedicated in part to their injured goalkeeper. "It's hard to take because he's worked so hard, especially in terms of the rehab he did with the physio," said Draper. "He got back to training then has another setback like that. It looks like a bad one and it's hard to take. Hopefully it's not as bad as they think. But it's a big loss and I feel sorry for him with a semi-final coming up too. Esson will come in, and he's brilliant for the ten games Dean missed. It will be extra inspiration for us, although I don't think the boys need much motivation if I'm honest."
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