Chris Antoniazzi hopes he thrives in Cove Rangers’ winning environment during his loan spell from Aberdeen.
The 19-year-old midfielder joined on loan from the Premiership side last week and made a scoring debut in the 3-0 victory against Raith Rovers in the Betfred Cup on Saturday in what was Paul Hartley’s first win in charge.
Advice from his coaches at Aberdeen, including manager Derek McInnes, told him the six-month loan move to Cove would benefit him greatly.
Antoniazzi said: “Aberdeen said go play, go get goals and assists. But more importantly, go learn the game. I’m still young and learning my trade. I just need to play as much as I can.
“Derek McInnes said it’ll be great to come here as they have such a great winning mentality here and they’re a club that wants to do more.
“They’re not going to stand still and I can tell that just from my first week.
“They’ve just been promoted from the Highland League and some people might doubt us but we’ve got the belief in ourselves. We’ve got the squad to do something this year.
“I was training on Thursday and blown away with how professional it was. Some League 2 teams are just existing but Cove have a plan to work to – everything is so professional with the gaffer coming in.”
Antoniazzi spent the full season with Stewart Petrie’s Montrose side last season and Hartley spoke with the Gable Endies boss before bringing in the midfielder.
He found the net in the second half against Raith, tucking in from close range after Jamie Masson’s cross-shot had broken to him.
He added: “I’d like to get a lot more goals and assists than last year.
“I had some good games but I wasn’t getting on the scoresheet as much as I would like.”