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Roland Idowu had a simple decision to make: party the summer away or knuckle down and get his footballing career back on track.
The St Mirren midfielder made a flying start to his league campaign with a stunning opener in the 3-0 win over Hibs but admitted his summer was filled with sacrifice.
Idowu, 22, made just ten appearances for Shrewsbury last season but spent the summer in intense one-to-one training sessions with Training 121 in Ireland to get himself in top shape for a season-long loan to St Mirren.
“Before I came here I hadn’t played for six months and it was a decision for myself – to either go partying throughout the summer or work," admitted Idowu. “And I decided to work."
“I don’t want to say I’m not humble, but I feel I’ve put in the work over the summer for this. I’m just glad it’s all coming together and with my performance.
“It’s hard when all your mates and team-mates are back home after a long season. You have a long season and it was just another summer. I’ll probably get to party next summer or whatever.
“But I just needed to get my career back on track and I’m happy I’m doing that at the moment.”
While Idowu was unable to enjoy a party lifestyle over the summer months, the Irishman has been lapping up the carnival atmosphere in Paisley after a winning start to the league followed a historic biggest-ever victory in Europe over Valur.
He's now confident St Mirren can continue their rich vein of form and secure a positive result against SK Brann in the first leg of the Conference League third qualifying round.
"We’re going into that game full of confidence of going into the next round," he said. “We’ve got a squad of players and we’re looking to use every single one of them.
"Players who came on against Hibs, you saw the impact of Oisin [Smyth] scoring two goals. But then we had players who didn’t even come on.
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“We’ve got a really good squad and I just feel in the Brann game we’re going to use our squad to the best of our ability and hopefully get a result.”
The Paisley outfit mightn't have finances comparable with larger clubs in Scotland or in European competition but Idowu has no doubts
“You kind of sense it without being told it," he said of being at a club on the rise. “We might not have a £9 million budget like some of the other clubs in the league have.
“But, you can see the direction the club’s going in. And with our result against Hibs the club’s definitely going in the right direction.”
One thing for sure is Idowu's standards won't be allowed to drop under Stephen Robinson. The manager is a hard but fair taskmaster and places lofty demands on his players - something Idowu is relishing.
“I spoke with the gaffer before I came in and he made it very apparent to me what the club is about. I loved everything he had to say and everything he said is coming to pass so far.”
“He’s put a lot of confidence in me.
“I think I’m more of an attacking-minded midfielder and he’s just kind of given me licence to express myself in the final third.
"I’m confident of doing that when I’m in that area of the pitch.”
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