Josh Doig admits he’s been hit with the unwanted tag of quarantine king at Hibs after a THIRD spell in Covid isolation in just a year.
The teenager, crowned Scotland’s young player of the year in May, was one of four top team stars deemed close contacts as coronavirus robbed the Easter Road club of a total of 19 players last month.
It led to games against Ross County and Livingston being scrapped - and meant another 10-day isolation stint locked in his bedroom and taking fitness orders from his mum rather than Jack Ross for the left-back.
But after emerging from his latest solitary hell to star in Scotland Under-21s ’ 2-1 victory over Kazakhstan, Doig is focused on locking down his position for club and country ahead of a massive month for both.
The 19-year-old was previously caught up in the virus disruption that caused a Scotland Under-19 clash against England to be abandoned just over a year ago.
He was then struck down by Covid in July, meaning he missed a crucial chunk of pre-season.
But, after making his return from his latest lockdown against the Kazakhs at Tannadice, Doig said: “It was tough.
“Being in isolation for 10 days on my own, Kazakhstan was my first game back so I definitely felt it in the legs at the end.
“It was my third time in isolation. So it’s something I’ve got used to .. even though I really didn’t want to have to get used to it!
“It’s not easy. I know what I had to do to keep ticking over and Hibs were good in terms of giving me equipment because I couldn’t leave the house.
“It was just stuff on the exercise bike and anything really to keep me ticking over.
“I’ve got a boxing bag too, I try to do that as much as I can but it’s nothing like proper training.
“My mum and dad were at me not to sit in my bed all day and be lazy! I tried to keep myself ticking over but nothing replaces running.
“My first day back with the boys was on Tuesday and we did some runs at the end of the session and I was feeling it in the chest put it that way!
“The manager and coaches kept in touch with me. They were winding me up because it was my third time, saying I had a world record for isolation!
“But they kept me motivated, that was the biggest thing.
“Keeping me on my toes and making sure when I go back I’m ready because we have a massive spell with something like 11 games in 38 days through the festive period.
“It’s a busy schedule so coming away with Scotland and getting these two games in will be brilliant for me.”
Doig has been linked with a big move away from Hibs after his stunning breakthrough season but admitted last month the intense speculation played on his mind in the early part of the campaign.
Watford, West Ham and Burnley were all understood to be interested but Doig is focused only on his future at Hibs and with Scot Gemmill’s U21s as they look to book a place at the 2023 European Championships.
Next up is a clash with qualifying group leaders Belgium at Tannadice tomorrow.
Then comes a hectic 11 games in just over a month with Hibs - starting with Sunday’s League Cup semi final against Rangers at Hampden.
After four straight defeats - and then the covid disruption - Doig is well aware the pressure is on Ross’ men.
But he said: “Football is a rollercoaster. It’s only my second season and even last year when we did well it wasn’t positives all the way through the campaign.
“We can’t dwell on it being a bad spell. Every team in the world has a bad spell.
“We have a massive game coming up in the semi final on Sunday so what better game to bounce back and prove what we can do?”
Ahead of that it’s the Belgians and the Jonge Duivels have won all five of their Group I matches so far.
Scotland sit on four points from three games and Doig knows the size of the task in Tayside.
He said: “They are top of the table and have won all their games. They will have quality so we need to be right at it.
“We’ll take a boost from Friday night into that game because it was a good win.
“We knew Kazakhstan were a compact side and we’d need to move them side to side, fatigue them. We kept it well throughout the whole game and took a couple of chances.
“It could have been more, we created so many chances, but it’s something to build on against Belgium.”
