The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Total shutdown ‘yet to sink in’ for Forster amid uncertainty
Dundee defender Jordon Forster has opened up on the surreal nature of the football shutdown.
With the sporting world brought to a halt by the coronavirus, the 26-year-old admits the Dark Blues squad are stunned by the events of the past week, writes Marc Deanie.
The 2019-20 campaign was put on hold just as James McPake’s side had started to find form in the Championship.
He told the Edinburgh Evening News: “We’re basically playing it by ear at the moment. We’re just taking it day by day, trying to maintain fitness and looking after ourselves as best we can.
“It’s a really hard situation to explain. It doesn’t feel real.
“We’ve just been told football’s now stopped and we don’t know when we’ll be playing again.
“Everything’s just been shut down all of a sudden and it’s a really weird feeling. It’s not really sunk in yet.”
Dundee have gone six matches unbeaten, with five consecutive clean sheets, and sit third in the table.
The Dens men are just four points behind second-placed Inverness Caley Thistle, who they were due to play this weekend before the cancellations.
Forster said: “The season as a whole hasn’t been good enough for us but the way things were going recently, it was starting to look positive for us with regard to hitting form in the lead-up to the play-offs.
“There was a real bit of optimism building and it’s frustrating that that momentum has just been stopped with no indication of when we’re going to be able to play again, and if we are going to be able to play again this season at all.
“I’m a big believer that whatever is going to be will be.
“You can only worry about things you can control and this situation is definitely outwith our control.”
The loan signing of Scotland international Christophe Berra from Hearts has made a huge difference to the Dark Blues’ fortunes.
Berra, 35, was bombed out by Daniel Stendel after the former Barnsley manager’s Tynecastle appointment in December.
Forster said: “Big Christophe has done well for us.
“He’s got a lot of experience and he’s played at a high level so it’s good for defenders like myself to play alongside him.
“You can learn loads from guy like that.
“We’re similar types of players, we both like to defend first and foremost.
“We pride ourselves on clean sheets and things were going reasonably well for us before the shutdown.”
Forster – who was in Celtic’s academy before making the senior breakthrough at Hibs – feels he was held back by injuries in the early part of his career and he is delighted to put that frustration behind him.
He said: “I feel the best I’ve ever felt physically and mentally.
“I take a lot of pride in my performance and I feel like over the past couple of years I’ve found a way of managing my body that works well.
“I don’t think I’ve missed a game through injury for two years now so long may it continue.”
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