Get on with it: I have a plane to catch

EYES ON THE PRIZE . . . Athletic skipper Dean Furman won’t allow his impending trip to South Africa affect his focus against Forest.

FANS leaving the City Ground at full-time tomorrow should watch their backs — they might be bowled over by a chap in a tracksuit carrying a couple of cases.

Dean Furman has a flight to catch from Heathrow to Cape Town at 9.05pm — which some might consider cutting it fine.

But Furman is an Athletic player — and his job is to lead the team in the club's big FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest (3pm kick-off) before he can turn his thoughts - and travel arrangements - to his international responsibilities.

"I am trying to get out there as soon as I can," said Furman of his flight to jojn the Bafana squad ahead of the friendly clash with Norway on January 8.

"I had arranged to go out a few days earlier, but it is up to the club - and they only have to let me go on January 5. So when the final whistle blows, it’s a sprint to the shower and a taxi down to Heathrow."

Furman will be absent from the Boundary park side for the rest of January, including home matches with Brentford and Yeovil and away at Coventry.

"It would be difficult to leave for a month whatever the situation — whether we are up at the top or down near the bottom. But if your country comes calling, it is very difficult to turn it down."