Sheerin: ‘I’m loving my football with Berwick’

Berwick forward Jordyn Sheerin is enjoying life at Shielfield Park after netting his first league goal for the club during Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Forfar Athletic. The powerful striker also went on to scoop the club’s Social Media Man of the Match award post-match, and he felt there were positives to take despite the loss.

Sheerin gave the ‘Gers a lifeline against The Loons

“Personally I felt we were unlucky not to get something from the game on Saturday. Forfar are another one of the teams tipped to go up and every time we’ve played those sides we’ve matched them.

“We showed character and fought till the end. It’s obviously disappointing to miss out on a point, but I think this is the kind of game we can use to learn from.”

Sheerin cited limited match-time at Livingston as part of his reasons for joining the ‘Gers back in June, and he also revealed that starting more games since his arrival has helped reignite his passion for the game.

“I think I’ve played in every game so far. It’s good to be playing regular football and enjoying those

minutes on the park. That in itself brings confidence, and going forward that should help me to enjoy it even more.

“The lack of time on the park last season made it feel a little more like a job, but now I’m waking up on a Saturday morning and I can’t wait to go play football. Berwick is a good club and we have a good bunch of guys to be around.”

Sheerin’s previous two appearances against both Forfar and Annan have arguably been his best in Black and Gold thus far, but he also admitted he wasn’t fully fit for either game.

“I actually picked up an injury in the game up at Arbroath. It was late on in the game, around 85 minutes in and one of their centre halves has came down on my foot.

“I didn’t realise at the time, but when I got back into the changing rooms I took my sock off and my foot was gushing with blood. I had to go get five stitches to patch it up.”

The striker has been influential for the ‘Gers despite battling through the pain barrier

First-team boss John Coughlin revealed at the club’s talk-in last Friday evening that Sheerin trained against medical advice last week. Demonstrating his determined attitude, the forward explained his decision to put the injury to one side.

“At this level, you’re rarely ever at 100%, so I’m of the thought that if you do have an injury that you can play through, whether you’re in pain or not, and still be able to contribute something then you should do so.

“It kept me out of training the following Tuesday, but I trained on the Thursday and played Saturday, and that was much the same last week prior to Forfar.

“On Sunday morning I woke up and my foot had ballooned up due to the wound getting infected, so that has kept me out of Tuesday training again this week, but it’s healing up and I trained yesterday.

“And I’ll be ready for Saturday, too. We have a free week after that anyway so that’ll provide a good opportunity to rest it.”

Another thing that may raise questions over Sheerin’s position in the side however is the arrival of St Johnstone youngster Greg Hurst, who joined the club on Tuesday morning on loan until January, but welcoming the added challenge, Sheerin declared that he’s delighted to see depth added to the frontline.

“You have to welcome competition. It doesn’t matter what level of football you’re at – if you’re in a side and someone joins the club looking to score goals then it’s good for the team and it helps you to raise your own game. From what I hear, he sounds like he’ll be a very good addition.

Greg Hurst’s arrival can only be good for the club according to Sheerin

Coughlin also stated that he felt there was somewhat of a pressure on Sheerin to provide goals prior to Hurst’s arrival, but instead of seeing goalscoring as a burden, Sheerin says he is striving off the added responsibility.

“With regards to there being pressure on me, I’m now starting to play with a confidence to my game. I’m starting to have a pop from distance and believing in my own ability more again.

“I know that if I keep playing the way I’m playing, I’ll continue to gain that confidence, and that’ll only help me continue to improve and net more goals.”

Sheerin does admit he still has hopes that a successful spell with the club could be the platform to open up opportunities play regular football at a higher level in the future.

“I’m loving my time with Berwick at the moment, I really am. Ultimately, you want to play at the highest level possible. That’s a natural thing for ambitious players.

“But I’m more than happy with where I am just now. Of course one day I’d love another crack at a higher level. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, and besides, I’ll need to get scoring more first!”

The striker finishes by acknowledging the support both he and his teammates have received from the Shielfield faithful.

“I think we’re now starting to show that we are a team and we could upset a few people that our fans are starting come out a bit more.

“The fans were brilliant on Saturday there with an increased attendance. If we can have more of that it’d be ideal!”