Peterhead boss Jim McInally hopes Niah Payne gets his rewards after scoring his first goal for the club in the 2-0 win over Alloa Athletic.
Payne got off the mark for the season by scoring against Falkirk on Saturday and looks to be striking up a partnership with fellow forward Russell McLean.
He joined the club in January and had been commuting from Leeds for training and games with the Blue Toon.
However, the 22-year-old moved to Glasgow last month and is now part of a regular travelling group that come up from the central belt.
McInally believes Payne is seeing the benefit of the relocation and felt he deserved his opening goal.
He said: “For me it was brilliant. He was poor against Stirling performance-wise but his effort was fantastic. It was just a case of encouraging to keep working as hard as he was working.
“He showed us at the end of last season he had a wee bit about him, with skill and pace. We’d seen in training he could finish, so it was nice of him to get that and hopefully it boosts his confidence even more.
“Sometimes people make judgements and have a look at him in pre-season games. With the likes of the game against Inverness, he travelled up from Leeds for that game.
“He was disappointed with how he played but if you know football, you know that’s going to happen. There’s no way he’s superman, that he can come up with not much football behind him, travel that far and expect to play well.
“His attitude is what enamoured us at the start. He was disappointed not to get a contract at Falkirk and when he came to train with us, he came knowing he couldn’t sign until the window opened again.
“He showed a brilliant attitude and hopefully he gets a wee run at it.”
McInally has been heartened too by the link-up play between Payne and McLean, given they both found the net against Alloa on Saturday.
McLean returned to the Blue Toon for a second spell in the summer after a two-year stint with Montrose.
McInally added: “They’re both good players and they’re both quick. They’re decent in the air – Niah is deceptive in the air and is quite good for his size.
“They certainly linked up well for their goals on Saturday. It was pleasing because it’s something we didn’t feel we had enough of last season, having people in the six-yard box.”
