Ross County defender Tom Grivosti is determined to cap his breakthrough season with the Staggies by claiming silverware.
Englishman Grivosti is likely to start tonight’s IRN-BRU Cup semi final against East Fife, having made his first start in the previous round’s 2-1 victory over Motherwell colts.
It proved to be the start of a run in the side for the 19-year-old, who has nine top team outings to his name.
Grivosti is pleased with the progress he has made under co-managers Stuart Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson this term, and he insists there would be no better way to mark it than by claiming his first senior medal.
Grivosti said: “We’re a game away from a final. Anyone who reaches the semi-final has a great chance of winning it. We’re confident we can do it.
“It’s just a great opportunity. We’re still in the Scottish Cup and we’re top of the league and we’re going to fight all the way on all three fronts.
“I’ve not won a professional medal yet, just medals won as a kid, like you do.
“You can’t underestimate the value of medals. As a player, you want to win trophies and this is another to add to the cabinet.
“If we can do it, it will just top off what has been a good season of progress for me after breaking through and playing quite a few games for the first team.
“A trophy – or a couple of trophies – at the end of it would be brilliant.”
Grivosti has found game time limited in recent weeks following the arrival of defenders Andy Boyle, Callum Semple and Kenny van der Weg, however the former Bolton Wanderers youth player is intent on grasping the next opportunity which comes his way.
He added: “The lads have been in good form and it has been hard for me to get game-time.
“Even though I haven’t been playing, just training in a first team environment with these lads every day, the away trips and just being around the dressing room, is a great experience for me.
“I’m loving every minute of it.
“All I can do, when I get the chance, is try to take it. Hopefully if I get my chance against East Fife I will improve my chances of getting a run in the league.
“I feel, when I have played, I’ve done well – and that gives me confidence I can play at this level and in this team.
“I just want to keep proving that and keep proving myself to the managers.”
Grivosti is not the only County youngster to feature in the IRN-BRU Cup this term, with Ross Munro, Mark Gallagher and James Wallace among the others to have featured, and the Liverpool-born player said: “I played in the last round of this competition, so hopefully it gives me another game to play.
“In the early rounds, I didn’t play and I was disappointed. But some of the other younger lads got games.
“Thankfully my chance came in the league, but this is definitely a cup competition where the younger lads have been thinking they might have a chance of playing.”
