Ross County defender Erik Cikos says the impact his last spell with the Staggies had on his career made him desperate to return when the Highlanders came calling for him again this summer.
Slovak Cikos spent six months on loan at County – then managed by Derek Adams – from previous club Slovan Bratislava in 2014.
Cikos broke into the Slovakian national team for the first time during his short spell at Victoria Park, winning two caps.
The 28-year-old returned to Slovan before playing in Europa League games against Napoli, Young Boys and Sparta Prague the following season, prior to his departure from the Slovak Super Liga outfit this year.
Cikos quickly felt the benefits of adjusting to Scottish football last time around, making it an easy decision for the 28-year-old to sign on again under current Staggies manager Jim McIntyre.
Cikos said: “The half-season with County helped me a lot to improve myself.
“It was a shock for my body when I first came to Scotland. In Slovakia we get a lot of time for everything, we get the ball for a few seconds and it’s easy, but there’s more technical, combination and tactical play.
“Here, every second there are duels. Now I can say I believe I’m more of a complete player. The last time I went back to playing in Slovakia I felt great. I had a great half season after I came back from Scotland. We qualified for the Europa League group stage which was a great experience for me. I played in all the matches.
“Scottish football hasn’t changed at all. I knew what I could expect, how I need to play and what I need to focus on. Scottish football is more direct. I need to be ready in every situation.”
After returning to the starting line-up to help the Staggies triumph 3-2 against Highland rivals Caley Thistle last weekend, Cikos is targeting a winning run, with Kilmarnock today’s visitors to Victoria Park.
He added: “It will help us a lot to get our confidence back. It was very important.
“We lost a little bit of power in pre-season but now we look like we’ve got it back. We could see it in the duels, we were really strong and we won everything.
“We looked much better, better prepared physically and mentally.
“Now, after a very important win, we can keep going and we are looking at the next matches.
“These two matches against Kilmarnock and Hamilton will be very important, because after that we have a series of hard matches.”