Aberdeen winger Greg Stewart is desperate to salvage something positive from a frustrating season at Pittodrie.
The 28-year-old returned to Scotland in the summer with the hope of gaining regular first team football after a dream move from Dundee to Birmingham turned sour.
Stewart started only six league games during a season of turmoil at the Blues, who went through three managers during the course of a disappointing campaign and only narrowly avoided demotion to the third tier of English football.
A season-long loan move to Aberdeen started in promising fashion with a crucial goal on his first in a Europa League victory against Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg.
But game time has also proven limited for Stewart at Pittodrie, who is hoping to make his first start for more than two months when St Johnstone visit this afternoon.
Stewart has made only 12 league starts so far this season and admits he has found it tough at Pittodrie.
He said: “I’d say that last season was a wee bit tougher. It’s hard to say, because there were so many changes with the management at the club.
“I don’t really want to look back on that, I just want to look forward.
“With 10 games to go, hopefully I get a chance and can make a not so great season into a good season.
“It’s easy for me to say that last season impacted this season because of what happened and I hardly played any games.
“It’s just one of those things that you need to keep the head down and work hard in training and hope your chance comes.
“I expected myself to be a bit better. It’s not really happened for me. You can only keep working hard and hope when the games come round you can take your chance, and I’ve not quite done that.”
Stewart still has a year to go on his Birmingham contract but it has been another season of change at St Andrews.
Having kept the Blues up last term, Harry Redknapp took charge at the start of the term before being sacked in September and replaced by Steve Cotterill.
But with relegation looming, Cotterill was dismissed earlier this month with Garry Monk tasked with keeping the Blues in the Championship.
They sit inside the bottom three with eight games to go but Stewart insists his full focus is on Aberdeen.
He added: “To be honest, I’m not really thinking about Birmingham.
“I’m just looking at my personal contribution to Aberdeen with 10 games to go. We can still get second, we can still win the cup so it can still be a good season.
“I still believe in myself. I still believe that I can create chances and score goals. Hopefully if I get that opportunity I can show that.
“I spoke to someone [at Birmingham] last week.
“It was just a brief chat to say that they’re trying to get up to a game because it’s a new management team. I don’t think the management team has seen me play.”