Dundee entertain Kilmarnock on Saturday and so we take a look at a player who has played for both clubs, goalkeeper Kyle Letheren who was part of Dundee’s 2013/14 SPFL Championship winning season.
It’s Saturday 3rd May 2014; there are ninety minutes on the clock at Dens Park for Dundee’s final SPFL Championship match against Dumbarton and the Dark Blues are desperately hanging on to their precious 2-1 lead. Only a victory will now give The Dee the Scottish Championship title and promotion back to the top tier as rivals Hamilton Academical have incredibly clawed back the eight goal difference between the clubs and are leading Morton 10-2 at New Douglas Park.
The news of Hamilton’s incredulous scoreline had filtered through to the stands and the tension was rising as there was realisation that a Dumbarton equaliser would condemn Dundee to the play-offs. Scott Linton then played a long ball forward from the half way line which found full back partner Paul McGinn 12 yards out on the stand side touchline and he whipped a cross into the Dundee box before Willie Dyer could close him down.
The cross was perfect, found substitute Brian Prunty on the penalty spot and he rose like a salmon to out jump Gary Irvine and head the ball downwards towards the bottom left hand corner of the Dundee net.
It looked a goal all the way as the four stands packed with Dees held their breaths and feared the worst. The ball bounced down just two yards from goal and every single one of the 10,718 crowd expected the Dark Blue net to bristle with the ball but somehow, incredibly Dundee goalkeeper Kyle Letheren dived to his left, got the merest of fingertips to the ball and tipped it away for a corner.
Dundee hearts had skipped a beat and a collective gasp and sigh of relief rose around Dens. It was an incredible save; a moment of destiny that propelled the popular Welshman into Dark Blue folklore with the save that won the league. It was one of the greatest saves Dens Park had ever seen.
Seconds later Bobby Madden blew the full time whistle and Dens Park erupted with joy; the noise almost loud enough to awake the extinct volcano in the Law. Dundee had beaten Dumbarton 2-1, were confirmed as the first ever Scottish Professional League Championship winners and were heading into the Premiership as champions as the champagne started to flow.
Every single Dundee player was a hero, a champion and not just the ones who played on Saturday but each one of the thirty players who have featured in the matchday squads throughout the season. Kyle Letheren however had just perhaps elevated himself to legendary status with the moment he described himself as “the save of my life.”
He told the press afterwards, “That’s my best save ever. It’s the kind you dream of as a boy. To pull off a save like that in such an important game is superb. It was just a fingernail. I thought it was going to beat me when it took a nasty bounce but I got down to save it by stretching as long as I could.”
For fans of an older generation, it reminded them of Pat Liney’s 1962 League Championship vital penalty save in the penultimate game against St Mirren at Dens. If Liney hadn’t saved Jim Clunie’s late spot kick, it is likely Dundee would not have been crowned Champions of Scotland at Perth three days later and in keeping with goalkeeping union rules, Club President Pat said he was “immensely proud of Kyle” .
It was obvious what winning the Championship meant to Letheren after he sprinted 80 yards to celebrate with the whole team in the dugout when Christian Nade scored Dundee’s opener. He told the Dundee media team on the Saturday night that clean sheets mean everything to a keeper and having kept nineteen in the league during the Championship season, he set a new Dundee post-war record.
To cap off a wonderful weekend for Letheren, he was crowned DFC Player of the Year the following night at the Dundee Supporters’ Association dinner in front of his team mates, fans and parents at the Invercarse Hotel. Having been awarded nine individual club trophies he won the Andrew De Vries Memorial Trophy on its 20th anniversary.
Kyle was delighted and proud to be voted Dundee player of the year by the fans and in an emotional acceptance speech said “it meant the world to him.”
Born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Letheren began his career as a trainee at Swansea City, spending time on-loan at Newport County in 2005. He did not make an appearance for the first-team before being released in the summer of 2006.
Kyle subsequently joined Barnsley and having arrived at on a short term deal, Letheren then signed a new deal to keep him at Oakwell until 2008. Two years after joining the club, he made his debut in the 3rd round of the FA Cup against Blackpool in January 2008, as a half-time substitute, replacing the injured Heinz Müller. At 1–0 down ‘the Tykes’ went on to win the game 2–1, giving Letheren his first clean sheet on his debut. Barnsley that year went on to beat Liverpool & Chelsea and reached the FA Cup semi-finals.
He was loaned to Doncaster Rovers for the second half of the 2008/09 season as cover for veteran goalkeeper Neil Sullivan, but he did not make an appearance for them.
He was released from his contract in the summer of 2009 and then signed a short-term contract with Plymouth Argyle in the Championship to provide cover for Romain Larrieu and left them six months later when his contract expired.
In April 2010, he agreed to join Motherwell until the end of the season as an emergency goalkeeper but the Scottish Premier League blocked the move as they were deemed to have enough goalkeepers. However he remained at Fir Park to train with the squad for the remainder of the season.
Letheren then signed for Kilmarnock in August 2010, to provide backup to Cammy Bell but failed to make an appearance for Kilmarnock in his first season. In 2011/12, he was handed his Scottish Premier League debut as a half time substitute for the injured Bell against Motherwell, with the score at 0–0 and Kilmarnock went on to win the game 2–0.
During the 2012/13 season, Cammy Bell suffered an injury leading to Letheren having a run in the first team. That run lasted until mid-October, when Bell returned. His second run in the first team came in early-February, when he played twice, he was involved in a 2–0 win over motherwell and in what was his last appearance for the club, a 1–1 draw against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, he left Kilmarnock by mutual consent in April 2013 and joined Dundee in July 2013 after a successful trial.
After winning the Championship, Letheren played the first ten matches at the start of the 2014/15 season back in the top flight before injuring his knee in a warm up against Motherwell It was later announced that he would be out until December but after making his return against Partick Thistle and St Mirren, Letheren was once again sidelined after suffering an injury in the warm-up ahead of the New Year Dundee derby.
Though he recovered from his injury, Letheren lost his first choice goalkeeper status to Scott Bain for the rest of season but was given a chance to play the last three matches at the end of the season following an injury for Bain.
At the end of the 2015/16 season, it was announced that Letheren had left Dens Park at the end of his contract and he explained that he wanted regular first team football in the hope of securing a place in his national team for Euro 2016 having been called up for Wales while at Dens.
Letheren returned to England, agreeing a deal to join League One club Blackpool and 12 months later joined National League club York City with whom he won the FA Trophy in May 2017 after York beat Macclesfield 3-2 at Wembley.
He was released at the end of 2016/17 and re-signed for League One club Plymouth and made his first appearance for Argyle on September 26th, over eight years after he first signed for the club
With twenty clean sheets in all competitions when the Dark Blues won promotion and the save that won the league (and let’s not forget a crucial late penalty save at Dumbarton in March), Kyle Letheren earned his place amongst the heroes to have played between the sticks for The Dee.
Honours at Dundee:
Scottish Championship winners: 2013/14
DSA Player of the Year: 2013/14
Appearances:
League: 50
Scottish Cup: 1
League Cup: 4
SFL Challenge Cup: 3
Totals: 58
