Ryan Hedges insists he can handle the pressure of needing to win every week with Aberdeen.
Dons manager Derek McInnes urged his new arrivals to grasp the importance of winning games at one of the leading clubs in Scotland before the international break and Hedges, who returned to Pittodrie after international duty with Wales, believes he has.
He said: “Since I have come here the manager has drilled into me that there is a need to win. You saw that with the 0-0 draw at Kilmarnock.
“A lot of teams would have settled for that but not Aberdeen. We want to try to win every game and the manager has told us that is what we should be aiming for if we want to better ourselves.
“That pressure builds and we need to deal with it and turn it into confidence and points.”
Hedges is no stranger to dealing with expectation and says his experiences with his former club will serve him well in Scottish football.
He said: “I have had to deal with it a little bit but I was used to the pressure last season with Barnsley going for promotion.
“We were a team challenging to go up, we had that will to win and needed to win and that got us to the Championship in the summer.
“So I know it is good to play with that pressure of needing and wanting the three points every game.”
The Dons have bounced back from their European exit to Rijeka of Croatia by reaching the quarter-finals of the League Cup and moving to within two points of second-placed Rangers.
Hedges is eager to make further improvement before the next international break in October.
He said: “If you take out the St Mirren result I think the start of our Premiership campaign has been very good.
“We have taken seven points from 12 and it is something to build on. We will be looking to kick on as a team and we want to pick up even more points.”
Hedges responded to being dropped to the bench for the goalless draw at Kilmarnock by producing a goalscoring man-of-the-match display in his club’s last outing before the break – a 3-0 win against Ross County – and he is ready for the challenge of commanding a regular place in the side.
He said: “I was pleased to get among the goals again. I scored and created a couple which is always nice.
“I have managed to score in both games at Pittodrie so I will be looking to keep that run going as long as I can.”