Teenager Josh Reid is refusing to treat Ross County’s left-back position as his own yet.
Reid has started all four of County’s games this season, after being promoted to the first-team squad by manager Stuart Kettlewell during pre-season.
The 18-year-old has made a strong impression in his early outings, having made his senior debut in County’s opening day 1-0 triumph over Motherwell.
Fellow left-back Carl Tremarco, who arrived late in the summer after joining from rivals Caley Thistle, was handed his debut as a substitute in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Dundee United after regaining fitness in recent weeks.
Following the initial excitement at making his first-team breakthrough, Reid feels he must maintain a strong level of performance to remain in the starting line-up.
Reid said: “I got a phone call sometime in lockdown, and he just said that I would be part of the first-team squad.
“It was definitely one of the better phone calls I’ve had.
“I don’t think I expected when all this ended to come straight back into the first team, so it was a good phone call.
“I’ve got to keep working hard now, I’ve only played four games so I’ve got to keep going.
“It’s definitely not my shirt yet.
“Tremarco has been training well, and he’s been getting fitter because obviously he came in later into the squad.
“I’m just focusing on playing as well as I can in each game, and hopefully it will be one of those situations where they can’t take me out of the team.”
Reid grew up locally, having attended Dingwall Academy, and travelled to Hampden Park to watch the Staggies defeat Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi finals 10 years ago, before returning for the final loss to Dundee United.
Reid is excited to feature for his hometown club, adding: “I was down at that Celtic game, and I was there when we got beat 3–0 by Dundee United in the final.
“It was huge, I remember walking into Hampden thinking I didn’t realise so many people lived in the Highlands.
“It was Martin Scott who scored the second goal, and that was definitely a moment where you felt like Ross County could compete against these teams, that we are a big club as well.
“You see it, with us winning the League Cup a couple of years ago now and winning a couple of other trophies, you want to be a part of that.
“Even if it is just finishing higher than the 10th we got last season, you always want to build on what we’ve done in recent seasons.”
County go into today’s trip to St Mirren a point ahead of Jim Goodwin’s men, with both sides having finished in the bottom six last term.
Reid hopes the Staggies can regain form after their loss to United ended their unbeaten start, and he added: “These games against the teams around us are big – we’ve got to be picking up points against them.
“The top six, or the top three if you want to say that, kind of take care of themselves, but these games are the big games for us.
“I think it’s a big opportunity for us with St Mirren and Livi in the next couple of games.
“We’ve taken seven points from the first 12, so it’s another opportunity for us to go and pick up more points.”