Jay Henderson believes Stephen Robinson is the boss to help him reach new heights after scooping the Paisley Daily Express St Mirren young player of the year award.
The talented winger follows in the footsteps of teammate Ethan Erhahon in picking up the prize after a successful breakthrough season into the Buddies first team.
The 20-year-old academy product made 26 appearances in total this season, notching two memorable strikes against Dundee United.
His form has also seen him gain international recognition, being called up to and subsequently making his debut for the Scotland Under-21s in March.
While he’s pleased with how his season went, the ambitious forward wants to push on and believes former Motherwell man Robinson is the man to make that happen.
Henderson told Express Sport: “It’s an absolute honour to win this award.
“I was fortunate to win the club’s young player of the year award too, and it means so much to be getting awards like this at my age. It’s a dream come true, especially when I consider just playing for the first team special enough.
“Me and Ethan are pretty tight-knit, so it’s nice to follow in his footsteps as well.
“Personally I want to be getting more goals and assists next season. Hopefully the manager will be bringing in some more attacking players that can help us pose more of a threat up front. I want to be a part of that.
“You can see with his record of working with young players, developing guys like Allan Campbell and James Scott at Motherwell, that he can get the best out of young players.
“He gave Aiden Gilmartin his debut against Aberdeen as well, which just shows he trusts young players. Hopefully he can help me kick on next season as well.”
Henderson has had to learn the hard way the physical and mental demands of being a first-team professional this season, sometimes finding himself out of the team and down the pecking order.
Far from shying away from the challenge, he insists those lessons have helped drive him on, giving him the determination to fight for a place in St Mirren’s starting XI.
Henderson said: “I thought my second half of the season was better than the first.
“I think I matured a lot. When I had knocks like being out of the team I started to bounce back better. I understood the process of being out of the team more and it made me hungrier to get back in.
“Whether I was out for one game or a few, I was determined to make it up and I think that happened in the Dundee United game at Tannadice.
"That goal meant a lot to me, not only because it was my first senior goal but because I’d been out of the team for a while too.
“Hopefully there’ll be more goals to come next season.”
Former St Mirren hero Steven Thompson believes Henderson has a bright future for club and country, as long as he keeps putting in the hard work on the training pitch and at the SMISA Stadium.
Thompson said: “Jay’s been really impressive this season. He gives you so much going forward.
“He’s got energy, pace and his deliveries can be exceptional.
“He’s a real threat and he’s scored a couple of absolutely brilliant goals too.”
