One worry among some Raith Rovers supporters upon the signing of Keith Watson was the player’s injury history.
It is fair for the Stark’s Park faithful to be wary of this in any new signing after watching a decimated squad often name just one or two outfield substitutes at points.
It is unfair on the player, however, who hasn’t been on the sidelines any more than your average footballer since an injury-ravaged spell at St Johnstone.
The 33-year-old – who joined Rovers last month after five years at Ross County – is the type of defender who puts his body on the line and is prone to picking up knocks before being patched up and sent back on.
True to form, Watson picked up a slight injury versus Kelty Hearts, colliding with fellow summer signing Kevin Dabrowski.
The centre-back played on until half-time and was taken off as a precaution. He has since trained all week and is available for this weekend’s trip to face East Fife.
County captain
Rovers were caught a few times on the counter versus Kelty, but the defence is still gelling at this stage.
Dylan Corr, another summer recruit, has shown early signs that he could complement Watson well, but he has picked up a knock that may rule him out for Saturday.
Available all last season for Ross County, Watson sometimes found himself back-up to Alex Iacovitti and Jack Baldwin – yet he retained the captaincy throughout and was handed the armband by Baldwin whenever coming off the bench.
Despite his limited starts, Watson placed well on many defensive metrics last season when compared to his Premiership peers.
Looking at the StatsBomb radar below, he comes out well when compared to the league average in various defensive statistics.
The experienced defender is strong in the air, winning a decent percentage of his aerial duels in his own penalty.
Watson also outperforms the league average when it comes to clearances and blocked shots.
Ranking high
In fact, according to Wyscout, he placed second overall in last season’s Premiership for interceptions per 90 minutes and blocked shots per 90 minutes.
Watson is a natural leader and captained the side in the first half of the recent match at Kelty.
He also brings the intangibles of years of experience and – like his former County team-mate Josh Mullin – has won the Scottish Championship before.
This is more accurate. O'Ware and Watson the captains. Trying to find out who the Kelty trialist is. pic.twitter.com/vzPHH0tMG6
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) July 1, 2023
Setting standards
Watson is also the type to set standards in training and his ex-boss Malky Mackay last year spoke in glowing terms in this regard.
“These type of people are worth their weight in gold and don’t normally get the credit,” Mackay told P&J Sport.
“They are low maintenance, and because they aren’t high maintenance people they are spoken about a lot.
“People get used to them training every day at a high level and being the good guy.”
