Inches.
Inches and we’re going to France.
Inches and these November games are just pointless friendlies that we couldn’t be bothered with.
Inches and the sleepless nights are no more.
Richard Keogh aims the ball inches at either side of Lukasz Fabianski and Ireland draw with Poland and the country is probably still hungover from a win against Germany.
Ifs and buts. Maybes and nearlys. Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve. Inches.
Richard Keogh has thought about that chance against Poland and he’s thought about it again. But he’s adamant that he did as well as he could have in that situation.
“I’ve relived it a little bit, for sure. But I’ve looked back at it a few times and, if anything, I thought it was a decent header really,” he stated.
“You know, the guy just missed it by about an inch in front of me so I did well to just hit the target. I headed it down, the ‘keeper made a decent save and, on another day, he could’ve pushed it into the net or it could’ve fallen back to me or anything. It wasn’t meant to be.
“But we’ve got a great opportunity now. There’s no bigger incentive for these games than to get to the Euros and it’s up to us.”
He doesn’t want to dwell on something he has no control over now. He wants to put it right against Bosnia. That’s if he gets the nod ahead of either Wilson or Clark.
But Keogh is confident that he is playing well enough to do so. Clark might’ve played in Remi Garde’s first game for Villa as they kept a clean sheet against City and Wilson might be a regular with Stoke but Keogh has player of the year trophies coming out of his ears and he is raring to go.
“I feel like I’m doing well and, at club level, I feel like I’m probably in the best form of my career. For me, I’m coming into the squad very confident and I’ve just got to make sure that I keep doing the right things and keep trying to learn and improve. If the manager picks me, I’ll be ready to go.”
