Why giants hold no fear for survivor Dawson

Dubliner Stephen Dawson has survived homesickness, rejection and relegation but hopes leading out Leyton Orient against mighty Arsenal in the cup begins a new chapter in his life. He spoke to Julian Bennetts.

A LOT of promising young footballers give up at the first hint of rejection and turn their attention towards getting ‘a proper job’.

Those who remain and fight on are the ones who demand our attention.

Stephen Dawson admits that by rights he should be back home in Ireland by now. His first club, Leicester City, didn’t rate him. His second, Mansfield Town, were relegated out of the Football League.

So it is with a mixture of delight and bewilderment that the midfielder will lead out Leyton Orient against Arsenal tomorrow as the League One club look to pull off one of the great FA Cup shocks.

Dawson will hardly lack support, either. He has 70 tickets reserved for the game, and if you are on a flight from Dublin to London tomorrow morning then the chances are that you will be sitting next to a member of the midfielder’s extended family.

If Orient win, then expect Dawson’s manager, Russell Slade, to be looking a little bleary-eyed come Monday morning. Having both joined the club in the summer, chairman Barry Hearn found the pair apartments next door to each other — in the corner of Brisbane Road.

As it stands, only Dawson’s parents will be staying with him on Sunday night, but if Orient manage to do what Barcelona couldn’t by beating Arsenal, then there will be a party to remember in this particular corner of east London.

“I hope the walls are thick in the apartment, I’ll have to tell the Irish to keep it down” laughs Dawson, who is a bundle of energy as he looks ahead to Orient’s first appearance in the last 16 for 29 years.

“I’ve got about 70 tickets but I would have more if the game wasn’t on a Sunday — my mates are working on Monday so a few of them can’t come over for it.

“Only about 12-15 of my family are coming over, but to lead my team out against Arsenal and to look up in the stands and see my parents and my brothers up there — it’s going to be a very proud moment.”

And it will be as unlikely as it is deserved. Dawson admits he was desperate to return to Dublin from almost the moment he signed for Leicester aged 18, and the desire to leave England rarely abated over the next three years.

Only now is he fully seeing the fruits of his perseverance.

“I was playing for Portmarnock AFC, and then a friend managed to get me a trial with Leicester,” he recalls. “Myself and Stephen Ward, who is now at Wolves, came over, and it’s been a long road from there.

“I was in the offices at Leicester almost every month, saying that I was quitting and going back to Ireland. My family kept telling me, ‘just give it another month’, and I’m glad they did. It’s been a steady rise recently, so I try not to think about what I would have done if I’d given up football. As much as I said I couldn’t take any more, there was still that burning ambition that says you can progress. I won’t stop until I’m at the level I think I should be at.’’

“They say good things happen to those who wait, and that is finally starting to show. Hopefully it can be the start of a great couple of months.”

THAT is an understatement. Orient were considered relegation favourites at the beginning of the season, but they been in superb form since early November, having lost one of their last 20 matches in all competitions.

That run has taken them to the verge of the play-offs in the league and seen them beat Championship high-flyers Norwich and Swansea away from home in the FA Cup.

In short, Orient are in fine form as they attempt to become the first lower league side to beat Arsenal in the FA Cup since Wenger was appointed in 1996.

They know their place, but there isn’t much hint of an inferiority complex here.

“Leyton Orient are a small club, certainly in relation to the others in London, but miracles do happen, and they certainly happen in the FA Cup,” explains Dawson.

“No matter what team Arsenal put out, Arsene Wenger will expect their internationals to come out and beat Leyton Orient. It will be different to the Barcelona team, but whoever they do put out it will be an unbelievable task for us.

“We have a great team belief, but Arsenal are a fantastic side so we aren’t getting carried away with ourselves. But we will give it a real go and we’ll enjoy it.”

And Dawson has an extra incentive when Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshere and friends come to Brisbane Road, as he grew up a Manchester United fan.

The midfielder was reared on the battles between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, and although he is well aware that any comparison between him and the Old Trafford legend are wide of the mark, Dawson hopes to have the same impact as the sparky Cork man this weekend.

“I always used to look up to Roy Keane, and watching him against Vieira was fantastic — they had a few battles, both on the pitch and in the tunnel.

“They were great players, and they wanted to win every tackle, every header and every game, and that desire came from deep within their hearts.

“That’s the way I like to think of myself — I like to lead a team by example. I run all day, do the dirty work, and hopefully the fans are starting to appreciate me.

“And although Arsenal don’t have Vieira they have so many class players in reserve. It’s been six years since they last won a trophy, but they are still a superb team and I think they will beat Birmingham in the Carling Cup final. Whoever plays for them we will be right up against it, we are fully aware of that.”

Yet while Arsenal will field a side packed full of superstars, Dawson is in danger of being upstaged by another member of his family on the international stage.

“My younger brother Brendan plays for the Ireland Futsal team,” he explains. He plays for Shamrock Rovers, and another brother, Kevin, might do as well, although he has just signed for Shelbourne after Sporting Fingal went under.

“I think their ambition is to come over here though, so who knows what will happen in the future.”

And what does the future hold for Dawson? The holder of two Under 21 caps, he has seen many of his one-time team-mates graduate to receive full honours, but Dawson is confident his time will come.

He adds: “I’ve played with the likes of Glenn Whelan, Aiden McGeady and Kevin Doyle. It’s happened to them, so why not me?”

In Dawson’s view, the game against Arsenal is just the start.