Roddy McKenzie ready to swap gloves for silverware

Apr 1 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

RODDY McKENZIE was all set to hang up his gloves when he received a call to return to Livingston.

The veteran keeper, who was part of the League Cup winning Livi side of 2004, was brought back by ex-boss Roberto Landi in 2008 but the move almost turned sour as the club teetered on the brink of liquidation at the end of the season.

But fast forward 12 months and the club legend is on the brink of earning another prized medal as the rejuvenated Lions look to tie up the Third Division championship this coming week.

If Livingston beat Annan at Galabank on Saturday, they could clinch the title at Almondvale on Tuesday night when Montrose visit.

And McKenzie hopes the fans turn out in their numbers to help cheer the Lions on to glory.

He said: “Hopefully, the fans will turn out in their numbers and support us if it does go down to the Montrose game. If results go our way on Saturday, then we can win the league on Tuesday and, of course, we all hope that scenario turns out.

“Forfar and East Stirlingshire can’t afford to lose any more matches and if they slip up, it’s over for them.

“However, if we win our own match on Saturday and then again on Tuesday, it doesn’t matter what anyone else does – we’ll be champs.

“I was lucky that Livingston gave me a lifeline when I was thinking about giving up the game and to be in with a chance of a league title now is a great boost to me.

“It is also great for some other players in the squad as we all went through a lot of bad stuff last season.

“But the players deserve great credit for digging in this year where, after a slow start, the crowds have picked up and the club is back on its feet again.”

Livingston had been locked in a title scrap with East Stirlingshire until the sides met in a crucial double-header and it was during that period, McKenzie reckons, Livi proved their mettle.

“I think when we played East Stirling twice in two weeks we showed we were better than them,” he explained.

“I think we controlled both of those games and maybe that knocked the wind out of their sails, as they had been on a great run of wins.

“We didn’t have a great start to the season but one thing we have been since around October is very difficult to beat. Since then, if you look at all the games we’ve played away from home, we’ve dug out a lot of 1-0 wins.

“This league isn’t easy and there are four of five teams just below us who are equally matched and all pushing for a play-off place – and we’ve got to play them all in the next couple of weeks.

“Nobody at the club thought this season would be easy but our start in the league gave us an insight into how physical the games would be, how hard it would be for us away from home and that we wouldn’t just run over teams.

“We’ve been very consistent and have been grinding our results. I don’t think we’ve been beaten since just before Christmas, so I think we’ll just try and keep that going.”

Livingston continued their pursuit of the title with a win over Queen’s Park on Saturday but McKenzie was forced to play the first half in his under armour after the ref refused to let him wear his goalkeeper shirt.

“The referee was worried in case I challenged him for a header and people didn’t know who would win the ball,” joked McKenzie.

“No, seriously, he didn’t want to clash with me, which I thought was a bit strange as I’ve never tackled a ref before.

“So the kitman had to make a dash to Livingston to bring through a spare top, which I then changed into at half-time.”