Shaq Forde has overcome biggest Bristol Rovers hurdle with forward becoming a fast fan favourite

After a slow start to life in a Bristol Rovers shirt, Shaq Forde has now well and truly introduced himself to his new fans.

The forward’s acquisition in the dying hours of deadline day came as an incredibly pleasant surprise for the Gas who entered the final day of the transfer window expecting that their business had been concluded with the loan acquisition of striker Gatlin O’Donkor from Oxford United.

Not only were Rovers able to get the 20-year-old in blue-and-white quarters before the dreaded 11pm deadline, something that still haunts Gasheads after the previous year’s shambles with Jonson Clarke-Harris, but Forde penned a permanent, three-year deal with the option for a further year.

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The right-sided forward scored nine goals in League One on loan at Leyton Orient from Watford as a 19-year-old last season and after scoring his first Mem goal last weekend against Lincoln City, his second for Rovers, Forde now feels he’s truly introduced himself to the BS7 faithful.

“I feel like, especially after Shrewsbury, when I feel like I should have scored early on, I feel like definitely now I've introduced myself properly to the Gas fans and the Mem,” the 20-year-old declared to Bristol Live.

“I feel like now I've scored my first goal here, I can only push on from here. So I feel like getting this one was the biggest one for me so I feel like now I can just push on.”

Forde scored an extremely satisfying opener in a 1-1 draw with the Imps, nicking the ball off of the heels of Reeco Hackett before racing towards goal and picking out the far bottom corner from just outside of the area.

Frustratingly, the Gas couldn’t find a second goal with Lincoln equalising midway through the second half via substitute Jack Moylan but the two teams played out a tightly-contested stalemate with most supporters seemingly pleased with a point against a play-off targeting team.

“It was a bit of a frantic game,” the Rovers goalscorer added when reflecting on the contest he’d just played a part in. “There was limited time where there was a lot of control in the game, but we wanted to make it that way.

“We wanted to make it a frantic game so they couldn't get their heads up and we'd force them into mistakes. I feel like we did that well and obviously we just lacked a bit of quality sometimes in the final third and then other than that I feel like it was a decent game from us.”

Forde had to be patient during his first handful of weeks in a Gas shirt as he built up his fitness following a far from ideal pre-season with Watford. The 20-year-old was limited to substitute appearances for his first seven league matches, the first four of which were losses.

However, after coming on just after half-time at Burton Albion, with his side 1-0 down, the forward swiftly scored his first goal for Rovers to equalise before making himself a nuisance at the top end of the pitch as the Gas came back to win 3-1.

Since, he has started every league game with the trio of matches consisting of major highs and major lows, emphasising that there is very much talent there, but it’s still raw. Forde has assisted a goal, been sent off and scored in those matches with the red card against Reading sparking some instances of vile discriminatory abuse.

Two naive yellow cards for dragging a player back and kicking a ball away in frustration were poor moments for the young forward but he admits he’s learned from the mistake and moved on, confessing: “I feel like I have, yeah [moved past it]. Obviously it was just a heat of the moment mistake, but yeah, I'll definitely learn from it and hopefully there won't have to be any situation where I’m getting a red card anyways.

“If you ask any of my friends and my family, they'll tell you that I can just move on from things very quickly. Some may say too quickly, but yeah I can put stuff behind me very quickly.”

Out of Rovers’ 16 summer signings, Forde is certainly one of the additions drawing the most excitement amongst Gasheads. The forward seems to have an X-Factor about him that can get fans out of their seats, something that hasn’t been seen enough at the Mem in recent times.

He’s now seemingly fully fit, scoring and assisting goals and also putting in a shift defensively when needed and, at just 20, he’ll only get better. Quite rightly, there’s eager anticipation to see just what he can do in blue-and-white quarters.

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