New St Johnstone midfielder Elliot Watt has vowed to prove he’s a fast learner.
The January loan recruit experienced the full force of a Scottish Premiership press when he was robbed of the ball in the build-up to Kilmarnock’s first goal last weekend.
The former Scotland under-21 international knows he was at fault.
And now he wants to show against Hearts on Sunday that he has adapted his game to suit the frenetic nature of football north of the border.
“It’s different up here,” said Watt, who was snapped up by Simo Valakari on a temporary deal from Burton Albion.
“Down in League One the game feels a lot slower and more tactical.
“Against Kilmarnock it was my mistake for the first goal. They went man for man on us and you don’t really get that down south.
“So that is something I have to get used to quickly because you don’t get time on the ball.
“You have to play it much quicker in Scottish football. Teams don’t sit off you and only press in certain areas.
“It’s man for man and really aggressive all over the pitch, so all the new guys have to get used to that.
“The manager and I have had a few conversations about it.
“I would always back myself, but I need to get used to it and learn from it.
“You have an idea what you’re going into but it’s not until you actually experience it you realise the levels you have to get to.
“I was kicking myself after the mistake because it came so early in the game and changed the course of it.
“I will learn from it, we will learn from it, and I think we’ll gel more as time goes on.”
Watt added: “Hearts will look at what Kilmarnock did and the success they got, so they will look to do the same.
“We have to show we’ve learned from that and can stand up to it better.
“I think while Hearts will try to press us, they’ll also try to play a bit more because I’ve played against Neil Critchley’s teams before, and they always like to knock it about.
“We have to be ready for everything.”
Friendly advice
Although Watt was thrown straight in at the deep-end for a quick-fire debut against St Mirren last month, he had been thorough with his homework on St Johnstone.
“Cal (Callum Hendry) and I spoke about Scottish football a lot because he’s one of my best mates,” he said.
“Stevie Mallan (another ex-Salford City team-mate) is also a friend, so I’ve talked with him about the league up here a fair bit too.
“Because I came through the Scotland age groups, I know a lot of lads up here, so I was always watching to see how they were getting on.
“Cal told me all about St Johnstone before I came here.
“He was showing me videos of his goals on YouTube years ago.
“He did really well here and scored a lot of important goals. I think he came back from a loan and helped keep the team up one season.
“So that shows what can happen and I think with the split, it gives us a real chance.
“If we can make sure we’re in and around it when the split comes we’ll have a chance because everyone is playing each other.
“But before that we have to get through the next week because we have massive games.
“My family have moved up now as well so we’re getting settled and everyone is really enjoying it.
“Playing in Scotland is something I wanted to do for a long time.
“There are big clubs up here, with Celtic, Rangers, the Edinburgh clubs and Aberdeen.
“Down in League one there’s only really Birmingham and Huddersfield who would be that kind of size.
“So, it was an exciting prospect, and one thing I have taken on is that games up here all seem to have a lot more importance than they do down south.”
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