Just over four years ago, Coll Donaldson cut his teeth as a teenager at Livingston in what was then the First Division.
He’s back there now with Dundee United and it’s been renamed the Championship but the 21-year-old believes a lot more than just the title has changed.
Back in the side for Saturday’s hard-fought victory over Dumbarton at Tannadice, the centre-half feels the quality has taken a major step up.
“From last time I played in this league the standard has definitely improved greatly, so there are no easy games and we know that,” he said.
“You might look at a game like Saturday’s with Dumbarton, who’ve been struggling a wee bit down the bottom of the league, and with us up near the top of the table, you’d think three points in the bag would be a given but it was a tough game.
“That’s the way it is in the league now. Every game this season has been difficult, even the ones we’ve gone on and won well.
“You have to grind out the wins whoever you’re playing and that’s what we’re prepared to do.
“Of course, we want to be winning two and three nil and quite comfortably but that’s not always going to be the case.
“And it doesn’t really matter to us how we win just so long as we do.
“All we are thinking about each week is three points and, if we get them, we are happy.”
Donaldson also believes the weekend success was another indication United have learned quickly what life in the second tier of Scottish football is all about.
In August he was part of the side that was shocked by the Sons in a 1-0 defeat at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium.
Difficult opponents as he knew they’d be second time round, he was also convinced there was not going to be a repeat of that bad day.
“There’s maybe a been a change of attitude between us losing down at their place and Saturday,” he added.
“In the first game I don’t think we went there thinking we would just steamroller them but we maybe felt the win would come, even when things weren’t going well.
“It didn’t and it was a bit of a shock to us. But there is always a silver lining and maybe that game taught us quite a lot.
“Now we’re going out and making things happen and that’s got us on a good run. We are looking to keep it going.”
And after his return to the starting line-up at the weekend after a spell on the bench, Donaldson aims to continue to fight hard to be involved regularly.
The attitude he’s shown in battling to get his place back earned praise from manager Ray McKinnon last week.
He is determined to stay in the boss’s thoughts.
“Any time the gaffer is speaking positively about you it’s nice to hear. I’ve just been doing what I’m able to do and that’s work as hard as I can to get back in the team.
“I think still being young, it’s good to have a gaffer who has faith in you and you know feels he can rely on you to do the job.
“I want to keep the manager thinking that way.
“I enjoyed being back involved. It’s always good to get the nod from the start of a game.
“But the three points are the most important thing and it was good to get them.
“We ground it out in the end. I think we made it a wee bit more uncomfortable than it had to be.
“We started well then missed a couple of chances we would normally have converted.
“But we got there, so I was delighted.”
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.