Esson Given Surprise Call-Up

Dons first-choice 'keeper Ryan Esson has been drafted into the Scotland squad for the crucial World Cup qualifiers next week against Moldova and Belarus. This is a remarkable and much deserved turnaround for the goalie once described by a team-mate as "daft as a brush" and who started the season as second choice 'keeper at Pittodrie.

"Esson has been at Aberdeen for nine years, joining the club he supported as a boy straight from school, and he made his first-team debut in May 2000. The following season, he was the club's first-choice No1 and a regular member of the Scotland under-21 squad. Yet the next four years brought only 14 first-team appearances at any level. He arrived and then he disappeared again.

At one stage, Esson was third in line at Aberdeen, behind Peter Kjaer and David Preece, and was even sent on loan to Rotherham. Now, though, at 25 he has finally reclaimed his place in the starting XI at Pittodrie. He has not missed a game since coming off the bench against Hibernian last December when Preece was sent off, and his reliable performances have justified Jimmy Calderwood's decision last summer to sanction the offer of a two-year extension to his contract."*

The news that Esson has been elevated to a full Scotland call-up is richly deserved recognition of the lad's hard work and patience, and all at Stand Free wish him the best of luck.


* from The Sunday Times 8/5/2005