Hamilton Accies striker Andy Winter is confident he can take his goalscoring form in the cup into the league this season and form a prolific partnership with Andy Ryan.
The 20-year-old netted for the third game on the bounce as Accies earned a bonus point draw with Queen's Park yesterday in their final Group H match in the Premier Sports Cup.
The 1-1 result and 5-3 penalty shootout victory wasn't enough to earn the club a best-runners-up spot to reach the knockout stages, but it helped Winter keep up his impressive start to the season.
After defeat to Dundee in the opening game, Winter also scored in the wins over Stranraer and Forfar to take his tally to just one shy of his tally for the whole of last season.
And as Accies look to next week's Championship opener at home to Morton, Winter, who latched onto a Lewis Smith pass to net after four minutes, said: "I know if I keep getting that kind of quality into the box I've got a good chance of sticking the ball away.
"So if I get more chances like that then I'll be happy.
"I'm a striker, I want to score goals so I've just got to keep that going for next week.
"This is the first real stint I've had in the starting 11.
"Since I came to the club I've always been in and out of the team and playing in different positions so I'm feeling confident.
"I'm getting lots of chances and I've got a good partnership with Chucky [Andy Ryan, who has two goals so far] so hopefully we can score a lot of goals together."
Winter is pleased to be getting a run in the side as he looks to play a first full season since a knee injury in 2020 that saw him undergo two operations and spend 10 months on the sidelines.
He added: "I think the injury I had in the past is behind me now and I'm just thankful to be getting on the park every week at the moment."
The cup campaign may have ended in disappointment but Winter is taking plenty of positives from the first half display against Queen's Park, where Accies dominated.
"We are gutted that we've not made it through because we put a lot of work into the game," he said.
"It's a late goal and it's disappointing from our point of view, but we've got to keep ourselves going for the league starting next week.
"I thought in the first half we were really organised and we didn't really give them a sniff, even though they were playing into the wind as well.
"But we got to end games strongly as well.
"In the second half we got a bit deeper and allowed them into the game more, but if we can keep up that kind of performance from the first half then I think we've got a good chance next weekend."
Winter's start to the season has also garnered praise from his manager.
After the Queen's Park clash, John Rankin said: "I'm delighted with Andy. Obviously he was the only change in the starting line-up from this week to last and he contributed with a good goal.
"He causes problems, he always wants to get a shot away, he wants to be the target man, the number nine who gets the goals.
"He's always in the right place at the right time and hopefully he can add more goals to his tally this season."
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