Cove Rangers goalkeeper Kyle Gourlay feels getting his life sorted off the park has helped him refocus on it.
Gourlay, starting his second season at the Balmoral Stadium, admits he initially found the transition from full-time to part-time football a difficult one.
The 23-year-old had spent all of his career as a full-time professional, coming through the ranks at Dundee before moving to Hamilton Accies in 2019.
He spent much of the last campaign as understudy to Stuart McKenzie, making a handful of appearances in the league and cup competitions.
However, Gourlay started three of the four League Cup games this summer – including Saturday’s 1-1 draw and 5-3 penalty shoot-out defeat at Inverness – and appears to be in a good position to challenge for the number one spot.
Starting a job as an engineer with Openreach has helped.
“Last season, Stu played and there was a lot of difficult things in my life coming from full-time to part-time,” Gourlay said. “That transition was difficult, to get your life outside football back on its feet again.
“Now it’s a different season and I feel positive. I think people underestimate how difficult it can be – it’s not as easy as I thought.
“Being happy away from football makes it a lot easier, I can tell you that.”
Keeping positive
Gourlay was the Cove goalkeeper on the run to the Challenge Cup semi-finals last season and also played in the Scottish Cup tie at Easter Road against Hibernian.
Manager Jim McIntyre will have to decide between him and McKenzie to start in the league opener against Raith on Saturday and Gourlay hopes to have done enough.
“I feel good, I feel match-sharp. I’m enjoying when I play and I’m ready when I don’t play, if I need to go on,” he said.
“I hope so (to have done enough). I just need to keep making saves – that’s what goalies are there for.
“I enjoy having the ball at my feet. That’s part of my game. I used to play like that in reserve football and in full-time football.
“Confidence is a big thing. The more games you play, the more minutes you play, the better you are.”
Cove took four points from their four League Cup games and the stopper feels they are in decent shape ahead of the start of the league season.
“When you get beat, the first thing to do is to give yourself a positive reaction, never mind result,” said Gourlay. “Coming off a draw, it’s definitely a positive.
“I think we’re looking good. The boys are fit and creating chances again. I think we’ll score a lot of goals.
“This cup, it’s hard to take anything from it apart from getting minutes, which is good for every club I suppose.”