St Johnstone showed “determination” to bring Sam Curtis to McDiarmid Park.
And the Perth club’s new loan signing will replicate that desire in his efforts to keep them in the Premiership.
The Irish under-21 international was thrown straight into the deep end after arriving from Sheffield United on Friday, playing his part in a 1-0 Scottish Cup victory over Motherwell.
Saints have a huge task in front of them if one cup win is to turn into a sustained push up the league table.
But Saturday was a very good start.
“I only came in on Friday so I haven’t been here very long but everybody is in really good spirits, which is a great thing,” said the right-back.
“Maybe I wasn’t expecting that, even though I knew there would be a lot of quality in the squad.
“There’s a real belief in there that there’s a long way to go and there’s enough time to get the points on the board we need.
“It’s a good sign that everybody’s got that mindset.
“It’s important we believe in ourselves.
“We created a lot of good chances in that game and probably should have won by more.
“It’s great for me to get a win in my first game and great for the team to get our first win in a while – hopefully we can build on it.
“St Johnstone are in this league for a reason and have been for many seasons.
“I’m confident that we’ve got players at the top of the pitch who can make things happen for us and defenders who can keep the ball out of our net.”
Valuable experience
Curtis may still be in his teens but he’s no rookie, having played 19 times for Peterborough United in the first half of the season.
“I played the majority of games and really enjoyed my time there,” he said.
“League One is a very good standard and I feel like I’ve learned a lot.
“For a young lad, I think I’m building up a lot of experience.
“Hopefully that helps for the job we’ve got here. I want to be part of a team which gets us out of this situation.
“I wasn’t sure if Sheffield United were going to let me go back out on loan after bringing me back a couple of weeks ago.
“But St Johnstone were adamant that they wanted to get me, which intrigued me.
“I liked the determination they showed to get me here. That was important.
“It was no-brainer in the end. I was delighted to come and winning the first game obviously tops it off.
“I’m going to embrace this.
“I felt good out there. I’m fit and I didn’t feel leggy at the end.”
Curtis was solid defensively and got up the pitch when the opportunity arose.
He was convinced referee, John Beaton, should have pointed to the spot when he was brought down in the box by Stuart Balmer towards the end of the first half.
“It was a stonewall penalty,” said Curtis. “100%. Without question he caught me.
“Sometimes you don’t get the decisions you deserve in football, but we still managed to get the win and a clean sheet.
“That’s all that matters.
“So I’m not to fussed – but it was definitely a penalty.”
He added: “It’s the same opposition next week.
“In a lot of ways, that’s an even more important game.
“The manager will devise another game plan which we’ll do our best to put into practice.
“I’m sure the boys were working on it before Friday but I had to take on the information quite quickly.
“I still didn’t know I’d be playing. I had to hang around for another couple of hours after training.
“I was delighted when it was confirmed I would be able to play.
“It was good to go straight in rather than have to wait a week.”
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