Ryan McGowan won’t be changing anything about his game despite being given the “huge honour” of captaining Dundee United.
The Australian led the Tangerines out against Aberdeen in the opening fixture of the Premiership last Sunday, with Kenny McLean’s fluky winner for the Dons the only thing that spoiled the defender’s day.
McGowan has been told he will be in command of the armband when club captain Sean Dillon is not in the side and he is relishing that challenge.
What he won’t be doing, however, is altering his approach to games, including today’s clash against Motherwell at Fir Park.
“It is a huge honour to captain the team,” he said.
“Sean is the club captain but if he is not playing then I am more than happy to take over from him.
“I think I have the easy job because Dillo still does the other stuff that the club captain has to do.
“It is a good thing to do and it is a great honour to be the skipper of such a big club in the first competitive game of the season.
“The only disappointment for me against Aberdeen was that we didn’t get the win.
“What I will say is that it won’t change the way I play.
“Getting the armband means that I must have been doing something right in the first place so there is no reason for me to do anything differently.”
While the Tangerines failed to get off to a winning start, they didn’t play badly against Aberdeen, particularly in defence.
For most of the game they looked pretty solid at the back and McGowan said: “Obviously the end result wasn’t what we were looking for but I think our performance was roughly at the level that we want it to be.
“There is no point, though, in playing well for 80 odd minutes and then conceding a goal.
“We really need to turn those narrow defeats into wins.
“It is only the second game of the season and there is already pressure there.
“Still, that’s where you want to be involved in pressure games.
“The club expects victories and it is up to us players to make sure we go out and put on a performance good enough to get three points.”
McGowan should come up against a fellow Aussie in the Motherwell line-up today in the lively form of frontman Scott McDonald.
He said: “Scott is someone who did a similar thing to what I did.
“When I was growing up in Australia, he was someone I looked up to.
“He had done well at Motherwell then got his move to Celtic and went on to score in the Champions League.
“He showed that if you do take the risk as a young boy in leaving Australia then it can work out.
“He was able to adapt to the weather and make out the Scottish accent, which can be difficult at times!
“He did all that and if I can go on and have as successful a career as he has already had then I will be doing all right.
“He is a very good striker and someone we will have to keep an eye on if we are to keep a clean sheet down at Motherwell.
“I have played against him a couple of times but that was when he was at Celtic and I was at Hearts.
“Last season I didn’t play against Motherwell, mainly because we played Celtic five or six times!
“So it will be good to face him but I will be trying to keep him as quiet as possible.”