Derby County defender Craig Forsyth feels privileged to wear the Rams’ armband recently, describing the opportunity as ‘a massive honour’.
The club’s longest-serving player has led the side out in all three of their February fixtures, following an injury to vice-captain Max Bird, with club captain Curtis Davies currently being kept out of the side by Forsyth himself.
That’s because the Scot has been in excellent form on the right side of a central defensive pairing alongside Eiran Cashin, despite not playing in the position he so regularly has throughout much of his almost ten-year spell at Pride Park Stadium.
His switch from left back to centre half coincided with Derby kicking off an unbeaten run that spanned 15 Sky Bet League One matches, and at one point was as high as 19 games in all competitions.
The Rams have suffered setbacks over the last week, though, in the shape of a first league defeat since October when they went down 3-2 at Wycombe Wanderers and a 1-1 draw at home to ten-man Lincoln City three days later.
That’s led to a slight sense of frustration for Derby, who will look to return to winning ways when they host Charlton Athletic on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off).
And Forsyth feels it’s vital the side pick up three points when the Addicks visit Pride Park Stadium, as he explained to RamsTV whilst discussing his spell as skipper.
On captaining the side…
It’s a massive honour to go out and represent the club every week. To have the armband while Max is injured and Curt’s not playing is a massive honour for me. I’ve been here for a long time and have seen many good players lead this club out, so it’s a privilege.
On the last two results…
With the run we’ve been on and the points we’ve picked up over that time, it is disappointing to only have taken one point from our last two matches. The good thing is the games come thick and fast and we can try to get back on track this weekend. The Wycombe match had a few deflections that didn’t go our way and on Tuesday night it was disappointing to lose the goal against Lincoln. The timing of it changed the mindset and gave them something to hold on to, and when they went down to ten men they made it very difficult for us. We’ve had a big focus on home form being good, and it has been. We’ve got to get back to winning ways on Saturday.
On the challenge of playing against ten men…
Because Lincoln were a goal up, they had something to hold on to and they were very good at doing that. They worked extremely hard off the ball, limited us to few opportunities and caused us to take chances, which left us vulnerable on the break. We got one goal back but just couldn’t get that second.
On his season so far…
I knew I could still play week in, week out and had that belief in myself. Over the last few years, my opportunities have been a bit more rotated but I still believed I could play weekly. I’ve changed position slightly but I’m enjoying it and long may that continue. I don’t know if I’ll play left back again any time soon, but I definitely don’t think you’ll see me as a left winger again! I’m happy to play wherever, though, and it’s an honour to represent the club.
On adapting to his positional change…
The first few games of playing on the right-hand side wasn’t natural, so you’re slightly shifting your body position. I feel like I’ve adapted quite well to it now. Being in the middle allows you to see and read the game a lot more easily than you can when you’re on the sides. I’ve adapted to it and I’m enjoying it.
