Cammy Ballantyne feels more ready than ever to cement regular first-team football at St Johnstone.
The central midfielder has valuable experience behind him after numerous successful loans with Montrose.
Now 22, Ballantyne came off the bench to find the back of the net in Tuesday’s 4-2 Premier Sports Cup win at Elgin City.
He hopes to pick up more minutes in the group curtain-closer against Ayr tomorrow before making his mark in the Premiership this season.
He told the PA: “The loans were good for me and they have really helped.
“I feel I’m now as close to ready as I can be to challenge and get minutes for St Johnstone in the Premiership.
“That is my aim, getting games and making an impact in the team. I’m always trying to learn and improve myself.
“You need to play positive and with enthusiasm and that is what I will try to bring any chance I get.
“There is always pressure when you need to do this or that right. But you need to play your game and deal with it because that is what you are here to do. That applies to every player.
“We’ll look to build the cohesion and we’ll start to kick on further.”
Patience has been required but Ballantyne has continued to work hard to add further strings to his bow.
Becoming a threat in attacking areas of the pitch is certainly one of them.
He explained: “First and foremost, you need to be patient, try hard every day in training and impress the manager and staff.
“When I get on the message is always clear. We know the shape and system.
“I try to be positive, look at the likes of Graham Carey and Melker Hallberg, take bits from them and put my own stamp on the game.
“Thankfully I managed to get a chance and stick one away against Elgin.
“Goals were something I added to my game when I was away. Liam Craig looked after me when I was on loan.
“He always wanted me to add goals and numbers because it makes people sit up and take notice.”
Reflecting back on the win at Borough Briggs, Ballantyne admits sloppy team and individual errors still need to be eradicated.
“We took some of our chances on Tuesday and that made it a bit easier for us,” he said.
“But we got slack, gave Elgin some chances and they come away with two goals which shouldn’t happen.
“We’ve made some sloppy errors in the first few games. We got punished and, at a higher level, you will too.
“But there is plenty we can work on and be positive about going into the weekend.”
