Injuries and suspensions are an occupational hazard for all footballers and every manager has contingency plans in place within his squad to cover for the inevitable occasions when his team selections are disrupted by either eventuality.

Generally speaking though, the goalkeeping position tends to be less affected on either front, ‘keepers tending to pick up fewer injuries and only getting suspended in the event of a red card. But the 2020/21 season has added a new form of uncertainty to it all – COVID, the testing regime and the ever present possibility of a player, or players, having to go into isolation.

With that extra threat in mind, when Tomas Cerny picked up an injury during the international break, one that will require a minor operation to repair, it was crucial that Aberdeen acted to bolster the goalkeeping department with just skipper Joe Lewis and young Tom Ritchie available between the sticks in his absence.

Fitting the bill perfectly was 29-year-old Gary Woods who has come to Pittodrie on a short-term loan from Oldham Athletic. Woods is no stranger to Scottish football, having spent a season with Ross County and then three more years at Hamilton Academical. The English goalkeeper was a graduate of the Manchester United Youth Academy before moving on to Doncaster Rovers, Watford and Leyton Orient.

“I moved to Manchester United when I was 14. I moved away from home and went into digs up there. I really enjoyed my time there. Obviously it’s one of the best clubs in the world and they look after you brilliantly. I was there until I was 18.

“I went to Doncaster Rovers when they were in the Championship. I was the number two there but got my chance and played a number of games in that league before we got relegated to League One. Then I was in the side that won promotion the following season.

“After that I left and went to Watford. I worked under Gianfranco Zola and as a Chelsea fan, that was amazing. He still joined in training and was unreal, taking free-kicks and stuff. As a person, he really was a class act. Just little things, like when my wife gave birth to our first child, he sent flowers from him and his family.

“There were some really good players there like Marco Cassetti who joined from Roma and I worked with Manuel Almunia as well. They had some proper players, so it was a very good learning experience. Almunia had done something like 10 years at Arsenal but he was one of the nicest guys you could meet. So humble and he just came in and worked hard every day.

“There were a lot of different nationalities and it was interesting to see the way players from different countries had been brought up. It is always good to experience different cultures.

“I then moved to Leyton Orient who are an amazing club, but had just been taken over – Barry Hearn had sold it to an Italian businessman, Francesco Becchetti. It got a bit messy! A lot of money was spent and loads of managers came and went. On paper we had a squad that should have been pushing for promotion but we had five or six managers within a year until the technical director took over as boss at one point. We landed up getting relegated.

“It was a strange one because the club has got so much history about it. They had never been out of the Football League in their history but two relegations in three years saw them in the National League. It was a real shame for all the staff, many of whom had worked there for years. Thankfully in 2018/19, they were able to win promotion back to League Two.

“I still had a year left of my contract when we were relegated to League Two but the owner said that everyone he had brought in, it was all our fault and we had to leave, but he also said we were not allowed to go anywhere else in England! I had never heard anything like that before!

“One of my friends was at Ross County, so he said, “Why not come up here?” I didn’t know where it was, anything about the club or Dingwall! It only took about nine hours to get there! But I was glad I made the trip because I really enjoyed my time at Ross County. They are a great family club who really looked after myself and my family. We finished in the top six and also won the League Cup – that was a very successful season for a small club.”

Gary was on the bench for the League Cup semi-final against Celtic in 2016, the last time that Celtic lost in that competition. But fate was to intervene before the final itself.

“Scott Fox played against Celtic in the semi-final but he got injured before the final, I think he did his ankle, so I was in the team. Then on the Thursday before the final ,we were doing a crossing drill and I did my ankle as well! I landed on one of the large dummies they use. My ankle blew up massively, but I thought, “There’s no way that I’m going to miss a cup final!” so I got myself ready. I landed up playing and we beat Hibs 2-1.

“It was a great time for me because my youngest daughter was born a week before the final. It meant my wife could not travel down to the game at Hampden, so that was a bit disappointing, but they were able to watch me get a winner’s medal on TV.

“After my loan came to an end at the end of that season, I decided that the Highlands was maybe just too far away from my family home to settle. I had a couple of offers in England but I enjoyed Scottish football and when Hamilton came in for me, I decided it was the right move because my family also really enjoyed living in Scotland.

“I enjoy playing up here too. Nowadays, a lot of British based players have a different view of Scottish football. For years people in England neglected the game here and did not give it the credit that it was due. When you have been involved in it, you realise the standard is a hell of a lot better than people think. You have some big clubs, Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, all turning in crowds of 15,000 plus a week where very few clubs outside the championship are getting that type of support. I’ve also really enjoyed living up here too. A lot of players, whether it be older professionals or youngsters coming on loan, they are coming up here because they are seeing and hearing how good it really is.

“Hamilton were another really good club who looked after me really well. Every season we were tipped to go down but every year we would survive. They are a club that are very good at brining through young players like Lewis Ferguson and they have a lot of young players involved now.

“I enjoyed my three years there but it was getting to the stage where my kids were getting older so we made the decision to move back down south and get them settled into a school and I agreed to join Oldham. Last year I enjoyed it but this year, myself and a few of the lads had some problems with the club so here I am back in Scotland!

“I had a couple of enquires before from a couple of Scottish clubs and nothing really materialised. Then when I came back in after training on transfer deadline day, there were a lot of missed calls from numbers I did not know. I spoke to the club secretary and he told me the club had agreed for me to go to Aberdeen. I didn’t know if this was a windup! I started to call back some of the missed numbers and spoke to the manager and Gordon Marshall and I agreed to come up here. The deal got sorted out late on the Monday evening.

“Trying to settle in, it is a bit different with the COVID regulations as one of the rules is that we are all in separate dressing rooms, so you don’t get to know everyone quite as quickly. But I’m lucky in that I already knew a few of the boys from previous clubs. I played with Tommie at Watford, Ryan Hedges when he came on loan to Leyton Orient and obviously Michael and Fergie when I was at Hamilton. It is always easier when you go into a place where you know a few faces.

“Lewis was a youngster when I was at Hamilton, he was just coming through and starting to get in the first team. I think it was only half a season before he came up here because he obviously had something extra about his game. You could definitely see the potential he had. He was a big lad for his age, he is a powerful unit, but allied to that you could also see he had some real ability as well. He’s come here, played nearly a hundred games already and done really well.

“Tommie was a player who had great potential to go on and do really big things. He has had a couple of serious injuries that have kept him sidelined for such a long time, so it’s just good to see him back on the pitch, back enjoying his football.

“But the squad here in general is very impressive, it’s exciting to be a part of it. I’ve come to a team in Aberdeen who are trying to win things every year. They are involved in semi-finals and finals. It would be great to come here and be involved in a successful team that wins a cup. The club are also going really well in the league, so these are the games you want to be involved in.

“My job is to work hard and be ready to play if I get the call for whatever reason. Goalkeepers are a different breed. I don’t think I have ever been involved with another keeper that I did not get on well with, but we are all fighting for the same spot and there’s only one of them!

“Joe has been a mainstay here for the last five years and has been absolutely magnificent during that time. Any time I played against Aberdeen, he was brilliant. He is also the club captain, but it is my job to come in and compete with him and push him and try and ultimately try and take his shirt. That’s my job, but I know what a fantastic goalkeeper he is.

“From day one I said to Gordon Marshall, “If you see something that you think I can change, let me know as I am open to new ideas.” As a goalkeeper you can never stop improving or learning and different goalkeeping coaches have different ideas. You can always pick up things that can improve you. You can’t stand still, you have to keep working at your game every day. I know Joe has the same attitude.

“I grew up with old school goalkeeping coaches. I trained at Doncaster with Neil Sullivan, a fantastic Premier League goalkeeper who played for Chelsea and Spurs and also had a great international career with Scotland, winning 28 caps. A very underrated goalkeeper in my opinion and I am still very good friends with him. He was of the opinion that everything was about catch, catch, catch. So from 18 to 23, I worked very hard on catching everything. But the game has now changed, the way the ball behaves has changed, so you see more and more keepers punching a ball away to safety.

“Football in general has also changed so it in understandable that the role of a keeper has changed. A lot more teams are trying to play football so often the first question a manager will ask is, “Can he play out from the back?” Not can he stop the ball. Everyone is trying to play total football, the Manchester City way. Before, my job was to hit the big man up front 100 times out of 100 and if you missed him once you would know about it! So it has definitely changed from that aspect. But what will never change is trying to stop the ball going in the net.

“I still love the game as much now as I was when I was youngster starting out at Manchester United. Your career goes really fast. Everyone in Cormack Park is very fortunate to be involved in football, whether it is as a player, a coach or the support staff. If you don’t enjoy it every day, there are thousands, if not millions of people who aspire to be professional footballers and would happily take your place. You should never forget that you get to do your hobby as a living, which is pretty surreal.”