Chris Kane viewed a six-month contract at St Johnstone as an opportunity rather than a slight.
With a new manager to win over, the striker was well aware that his Perth career had reached a sliding-doors moment.
Now, having scored the latest in a long line of history-making goals for the McDiarmid Park club in Thursday night’s 1-1 Europa Conference League draw with LASK, that positive mindset has reaped spectacular rewards.
“I’m getting more game-time and that’s the main thing,” said Kane, who along with Callum Booth and Liam Craig signed a half-season deal while Saints were without a manager following Tommy Wright’s departure.
“The more I play, the fitter I get and the more confident I get. And that means I’ll score more goals.
Chris Kane with a MASSIVE goal for @StJohnstone! 😱
After surviving some early pressure from the hosts, Saints strike first in Austria 🔥
"What a goal! What a start!" 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/A884H4ge1c
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) August 19, 2021
“Covid affected most clubs so I certainly wasn’t expecting a two-year contract.
“I was just grateful to get the six months because the old manager had just left and we didn’t have a new one in.
“You never know – you can’t be sure what a new manager will want and how he’ll see things.
“There have been plenty of really good players who have left after a change of manager, for whatever reason. Things don’t always go your way.
“I just had to wait and see.
“I wasn’t thinking negatively, along the lines of ‘six months and that will be me away’.
“I saw it as an opportunity to get my head down and impress whichever manager came in.
“It’s worked out brilliantly because the gaffer has showed his faith in me.
“Hopefully I can keep it going.”
Confidence is high
There will be no inferiority complex for Kane and his team-mates when they welcome LASK back to Perth with group stage European football on the line.
“It was another great result for the boys,” said the 26-year-old.
“We could maybe have passed it a wee bit better but the pitch wasn’t brilliant.
“The draw is definitely a positive result to take back to McDiarmid and hopefully get the win there.
“The fact that we’re a bit frustrated we didn’t beat a team like LASK shows how good a side we are.
“We created just as many good chances as them – if not more. We could have been two or three up by the time they scored their penalty.
“Every game we play, we look to win.
“The Galatasaray result showed that we have nothing to fear.
“That gave us a massive amount of confidence. So will this performance and result.
“LASK are a very good side and we’ve done very well against them.
“We were optimistic that we could beat Galatasaray at home but they obviously turned up and got the result in the end.
“We’ll be confident again and we’ll give it a right good go.”
Kane’s goal in the Worthersee Stadion was almost a carbon copy of the one that broke the deadlock at Hampden in last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final against St Mirren.
And it’s no coincidence.
“Glenn (Middleton) said before that game that if he gets in that area he’s going to fizz it across,” said Kane.
“I knew not to look for the cut-back and to get right in there.
“I can obviously remember the semi-final goal well and it did feel very similar. Brilliant, eh.
“I need to be in the middle of the goal to take advantage of the positions Glenn and Mikey (O’Halloran) can get into. There is only one run I should be making really.
“I know they’ll find me.
“The gaffer, Alex (Cleland) and Macca have obviously done their homework and they’ve seen that we can get at them and turn them.
“With the speed of Mikey and Glenn, they can go past most defenders.
“They were rapid as usual and it was something we looked to exploit.
“I’m sure they’ll terrify most players they come up against. Speed is frightening.
“On their day they can be unplayable.”
