St Johnstone captain, Kyle Cameron, knows he’s about to make a big leap from facing lower league opposition in the Premier Sports Cup to the country’s top teams in the Premiership.
But the on-loan defender has backed himself to adapt and prosper.
Cameron played the first and last group games for Saints, winning both, and has already established himself as a key part of Craig Levein’s side.
Now he’s hoping to hit the ground running in the league against Aberdeen on Monday night.
“At Premiership level, I’m expecting it to be physical,” said the 27-year-old.
“From the training here, the step-up in intensity is higher than I’ve been previously used to.
“I’m looking forward to challenging myself against Celtic, Rangers and those big European and international players.
“I want to see where I’m at – if I’m good enough to be mixing it with the big boys or if I’ve got work to do.
“I’m excited to test myself.
“I understand that standards will jump up once we get into the league stuff but I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I can adapt quickly.
“The refs don’t give as many free-kicks up here.
“I’ve never played with VAR either so I need to make sure I’m doing the right things off the ball as well.”
Cameron added: “With Notts, we had a possession-based team. It was total football, especially the last couple of years.
“We dictated that pace, played from the back, slowly and methodical.
“Here, if you see a forward pass then you play a forward pass, squeeze the pitch and play it forward as quickly as you can.”
Dumfries loan
“There was a rumour about the manager (then Hearts boss) being after me before I went to Queen of the South,” he recalled.
“It came out the blue as I was driving up.
“It’s something I’ve been meaning to ask him, if it was him or a wee bit of paper talk.
“My spell there was a good learning experience. It was tough. I was young at the time and it was a bit more physical than what I was expecting.
“It set me up well for that following summer when I moved down south to Torquay.
“It toughened me up and woke me up to the real world.”
Scotland under-21s
Cameron’s other taste of Scottish football, was in the national team’s youth set-up.
“I played eight or nine times for England at under-16 level,” he said.
“We had Joe Gomez, Marcus Rashford, Adam Armstrong, Jordan Rossiter, Freddie Woodman – a lot of top lads who have had good careers.
“I made the switch at under-17s through a grandparent. In the European Championships we got to the finals and were knocked out in the semis by Holland.
“I played for Scotland under-21s twice.
“I’d hoped to play a few more times but I got injured that season from November onwards.”
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