Forde aims to double Pompey clean sheet tally

The Pompey keeper emerged from the fog to keep his 10th shutout of the campaign in last night’s 0-0 draw at Huish Park.

And now Forde has put his sights on doubling that total over the second half of the season.

Heavy fog put the clash with the Glovers in serious doubt with visibility poor.

But referee Chris Sarginson deemed the match playable with both sides having to adapt to the conditions.

Forde came through the test impressively and emerged with credit on a tough night for keepers.

The 37-year-old has faced some flak for his displays this season,

Forde explained he’s his own biggest critic, however, and he is setting his sights high when it comes to what he can achieve.

He said: ‘I always look at myself.

‘I’m my biggest critic and my biggest opponent.

‘There’s been goals (he’s been unhappy with) this season, but you get that playing in goal.

‘It’s about how you bounce back.

‘I look at 10 clean sheets and that’s something I’m very happy with from half a season.

‘Hopefully I can double it for the second half.

‘That’d be nice to get 20 plus.

‘That’s the aim. Let’s see.’

All the talk was focused on the weather which Pompey faced on the way to extending their unbeaten away form.

Forde was not new to such circumstances, but admitted it provided him with a tricky test.

The man who’s on a season-long loan from Millwall had to use guesswork to make a lot of his decisions.

But his approach paid off with Otis Khan’s late effort off the woodwork the closest he came to being beaten on the night.

Forde said: ‘It was a challenge.

‘I know they hit the bar late on.

‘But I think we had more chances and the better chances. Overall, I felt we shaded it.

‘We changed our shape and formation and I felt we caused them a lot of problems.

‘I’ve been at games like it before. I was with Ireland when we played Bosnia in a Euro qualifier and it was worse than that. I don’t know how they got the game played.

‘We didn’t even know we’d scored that night. This one was borderline as well, though.

‘Luckily we got it played and it’s another point on the board.

‘It was poor visibility. I couldn’t see beyond the centre circle. That was it.

‘I was making the majority of my decisions from who was going for the ball from the back four. Then the ball appeared!

‘It was a clean sheet in difficult conditions so I’m pleased with that.’