Kyle Letheren Player Profile

Biography

Kyle Letheren

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 twelve 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 in front of the Bobby Cox Stand.

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 the final ‘Helicopter Saturday’ but each one of the thirty players who 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 Scottish 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, Honourary Club President Pat said he was “immensely proud of Kyle” .

It was obvious what winning the Championship meant to Letheren after he sprinted eighty 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 thirty-five league appearances during, he set a new Dundee post-war league 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.”

However there was so much more to Letheren’s 2013/14 season than his injury time minute save on the final day as in March he made a crucial late penalty save at Dumbarton with The Dee leading 1-0. Peter MacDonald had put the Dark Blues ahead from the spot on eighty-three minutes but in final seconds The Sons were awarded a penalty themselves when Kyle Benedictus fouled Christopher Kane. Thankfully Letheren was able to claw Bryan Prunty’s twelve yard effort away and without the full three points, the league may also not have been won!

The following season Letheren began the campaign as Dundee’s no.1 despite Scott Bain joining from Alloa Athletic in the summer and started the opening match against Peterhead at Dens in the League Cup on August 2nd.

He made his Premiership bow the following week at home to Kilmarnock, (the side he had won the League Cup with and joined The Dee from 12 months before) after the SPFL Championship flag was unfurled by the now retired title winning captain Gavin Rae and remained between the Dundee sticks in the league until October.

His impressive start to the season saw him being called up by Wales for a Euro 2016 qualifier against Andorra in September but a month later, Letheren twisted his knee during the warm up for Dundee’s visit to Motherwell. This meant Bain had to be drafted in for his Premiership debut and after a man of the match performance kept his place in the side.

Kyle had to wait until Bain picked up an injury himself in December to get back in the side and returned in goal away at Partick just before Christmas but in a horrible moment of déjà vu got injured again in the warm up at Tannadice on New Years Day.

Letheren returned to the side for the last three games of the season in May but these would turn out to be his last games for Dundee. In the summer he would move down south to join Blackpool and subsequently turned out for York, Plymouth, Salford City, Chesterfield, Morecambe and Hartlepool.

However at Dens he be remembered as part of the 2013/14 SPFL Championship winning squad and with his famous last minute save that won the league, Kyle Letheren has earned his place amongst the heroes who have played between the sticks for The Dee.