Larne new boy Lee Bonis has dismissed suggestions he felt under "pressure" to deliver goals after making a high-profile switch to Inver Park.
The 22-year-old hit the headlines four weeks ago after completing a big-money transfer from Portadown for a reported fee of £100,000.
Whatever the veracity of that figure, Larne invested cash and faith in the striker and Bonis has delivered in his short time so far in East Antrim.
Friday night’s eye-catching double in a 2-0 Irish Cup win over Linfield made it five goals in his last three games and five in six games in total in all competitions for his new club.
Even more impressive, in terms of minutes played so far, he has delivered a goal every 89 minutes in a Larne shirt.
Asked if he felt a weight of pressure on his young shoulders following his recent move, Bonis said: “No, not at all. It doesn’t bother me at all.
“Look, I’m here to play football and that’s what I’m focused on and enjoy doing. Other people can say stuff if they want.
"Let them. It’s water off a duck’s back to me.
“I know I’m there to score goals but I’m confident I’ll do that if I put in the work. In this team, you also know you’ll get chances week in, week out.
“With the players we have here, there’ll be a lot of balls into the box and I’m just told to get in there, get on the end of them and score goals.”
Bonis, who has given Tiernan Lynch’s side an added dimension with his tireless work ethic, eagerness to run in behind and eye for goal, produced a man of the match display against Linfield.
He opened the scoring with a ruthless first-time finish after Blues keeper Chris Johns could only parry Andy Scott’s initial shot on goal.
And he put the last-16 tie to bed late on when he latched onto a loose back pass from Jamie Mulgrew to round Johns and fire into the empty net.
A memorable brace took his tally to five in his last three games following his debut goal in a 3-0 win over Warrenpoint Town and last week’s double against former club Portadown.
“It feels good scoring goals, but that’s what I’m there to do,” he said. “It’s my job to put the ball in the net and that’s what I’m doing at the moment.
“For the first one (against Linfield), the ball came to me and it was my first instinct to hit it first time and luckily enough the ball went through the keeper’s legs.
“It was a good time to get the second one. I saw Jamie had nowhere to go so I thought smart and managed to time my run to get there ahead of the keeper.
“My legs were a bit shaky at that late stage of the game but I managed to show some composure and slot it away.”
On making his recent switch from part-time to full-time football with Larne, Bonis said: “It’s been great and I’m happy. The atmosphere here is quality, I’m taking it all in and I’m really enjoying it.”
Next up for Larne, who lie fourth in the Danske Bank Premiership, is a league trip to defending champions Linfield on Tuesday night.
“The big games keep coming and I love that,” said Bonis. “We have another one on Tuesday night and we have to go again and try to put in a similar performance.
“I love playing against the big teams because it puts the ball in your court to play well. It’s always a challenge, but it’s the kind of challenge I love.”
On the evidence of Friday night and with recent media headlines in his rearview mirror, Bonis is clearly rising to that challenge.
