A part-time footballer making the move to a team based five-and-a-half hours from his previous club may seem like a big undertaking, but Peterhead new boy Dylan Forrest says it has been “six and half-a-dozen” for him.
This summer, the 22-year-old has swapped last season’s League Two basement side Stranraer for the Blue Toon.
You could hardly get two clubs in the same league located further from one another, in Scotland anyway. But being based in Glasgow has softened the blow for Forrest, who has swapped a club around 100 miles south of him for one around 170 miles north.
Another Peterhead summer signing, the returning Ben Armour, made the same switch from Stranraer ahead of the new campaign.
The duo are just two of a cohort of Blue Toon players who travel from the Glasgow area via minibus to link up with the rest of the Blue Toon squad, co-managed by Jordon Brown and Ryan Strachan.
Forrest said: “On our Glasgow bus, it’s myself, Ben, Andy McCarthy, Jordan Armstrong, Caleb Goldie, Kieran Gibbons and Cieran Dunne as well.
“We all meet in Cumbernauld, which isn’t too far from myself, and will drive up to training, or games on a Saturday.
“I knew some of them from playing against them, and I knew Ben from my time at Stranraer, but it’s a lot of time spent on the bus, so you do get to know them a bit better.”
As well as travelling for matches, Peterhead’s Glasgow contingent travel up to Dundee to train with their team-mates on Wednesday evenings, and train together as a smaller group in the Central Belt on Thursdays.
Peterhead ‘made me feel wanted’
Forrest helped Stranraer survive a relegation play-off tussle with Lowland League East Kilbride at the end of last season.
The former Celtic youth, having made more than 70 appearances for his former club in the past couple of years, explained his reasons for opting to move to Peterhead – who were unsuccessful in the promotion play-offs last term – at the end of his contract.
He said: “I know how well they done last year – to be fair, when we played them I think Stranraer were their bogey team, as we did quite well against them.
“But, over the season, Peterhead were up near the top of the table.
“I knew Ben Armour was coming back to Peterhead, and he spoke highly of the club as well.
“They were the first club to approach me early on, before the season had finished, and made me feel wanted.”
Elgin cup game will give Peterhead ‘gauge’ ahead of League Two season
Forrest plays defensive midfield, describing himself as: “quite combative, so I like to get in about it, plus I like to start attacks and get the ball moving, and pass to the – I would say – better players higher up the pitch.”
He made his competitive Peterhead debut in last weekend’s Premier Sports Cup-opening Balmoor hammering at the hands of Championship Queen’s Park.
However, Forrest – who admitted he cost the Blue Toon a third goal with an ill-judged back-pass – thinks the 5-0 scoreline “didn’t reflect” a 90 minutes where his side kept the ball well and created chances in phases.
This weekend, it’s a derby of sorts, when near-neighbours Elgin City – also League Two promotion hopefuls in the campaign ahead – visit in Group C.
Forrest said: “It’ll be a totally different game from the Queen’s Park game. We’re similar level.
“Although Peterhead finished a lot higher last year, Elgin have strengthened – I think Peterhead have, too.
“This will give us a better gauge before going into the league to see where we’re at.
“We need to win the game on Saturday both for the sake of the cup and to give us a bit of confidence going into the league as well.”
Conversation