If Curtis Main doesn’t keep his place in the Aberdeen starting line-up for this weekend’s encounter with Celtic then Derek McInnes may have to fortify his office door with a portcullis.
"I fully expect to retain my place for Sunday and I don't see myself coming in, putting in a performance and coming out the side,” said Main with considerable purpose. “Let's just say I know where the manager's office is.”
Main’s galvanised motivation is justified, of course. The 27-year-old put in an all action performance of poise, power and potency at Hamilton on Tuesday night and opened the scoring in a 3-1 win. Main’s goal after 15 minutes was Aberdeen’s first in five games and ended a withering drought that had just about prompted a hose pipe ban at Pittodrie.
Having been charged with leading the line in favour of 21-goal Sam Cosgrove, Main responded to the task with great vigour. Now that he’s in the team, the Englishman is determined to stay put.
“In my head my thought is that I'm looking forward to the next game,” said Main, who has had to play the waiting game to get a starting berth having joined Aberdeen from Motherwell in the summer.
"I signed here because I believed I could come and make an impact and be a big player for the club and I still expect to do that.
"As a centre forward you just want to get into a rhythm and play games consecutively to establish yourself in the team.
"I wanted to do it a lot quicker but these things happen in football. The manager knows that I'm here to play. I'm here to work hard and do well for the club and I'm obviously banging on the door and asking for opportunities when I'm not getting them.
"It's always nice to come in when you've been out the side and remind people exactly why you were here in the first place. If the team's playing well and winning games and the centre forwards are scoring then that's the time you hold your hands up and say 'fair dos, no problem'.
"But when things aren't going so well you hope to get your chance and make an impression and show why you deserve to be in the starting line-up.”
There had been talk – possibly paper talk – that Main would be moved on in the transfer window. That was never an option for Main, though, who continued to put in the hard yards in effort to muscle his way into the reckoning.
He added: “There might have been one or two enquiries from teams looking and thinking 'he isn't playing, can we get him?' But from my point of view I had no intention of leaving. I've only just got here.
“When I came in I hoped to go straight into the team and show the Aberdeen fans what they'd signed. Unfortunately I've not been able to get into the team as frequently as I'd have liked for various reasons.
"I've had to be patient and knuckle down and work hard behind the scenes - some of the stuff that maybe goes unnoticed - to be ready for opportunities like Tuesday night.”
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