St Johnstone defender Scott Tanser is hoping to put down roots in Perth.
The full-back, who became a new dad a few weeks ago, has settled off the pitch after his summer move north of the border.
And he is looking at home on the pitch as well.
Brian Easton’s misfortune has been Tanser’s gain and the Englishman has been one of Tommy Wright’s best performers while the former Hamilton Accies man has been out injured.
Now the 23-year-old has his sights set on earning an extension to the one-year deal that runs out in the summer.
“There is always competition for places,” he said. “If someone gets injured, you need to take your chance and I think I have done that.
“I’m enjoying Scottish football. I’ve had time to settle in now and have a look at what it is all about. I think it is where I belong.
“Everything is going well and I’m hoping to get some security now and push on for a new contract.
“I’ve been speaking to my family and I want to be up here for a while. That is my main aim.
“I knew it would be a good place to be when I first arrived.
“As soon as I got here I felt at home and having my family up here is always a bonus.”
Saints’ injury time winner at Easter Road is an obvious highlight of Tanser’s time at the club so far.
“It was a good feeling when the first goal went in against Hibernian to end the drought,” he said.
“But you can’t beat a last minute winner because those are the moments you want to be a part of in football.
“Those are the memories that you will cherish forever. The fans have been sticking by us when results haven’t been going well.
“The fans who travelled on Saturday gave us all of their support and it was great to repay them with the result.
“I’ve not seen celebrations like that for a while so it was a special moment for us.
“The whole dressing room is very together and we are always backing each other and supporting each other. There are no individuals.”
Tanser added: “I was happy with my personal performance but more importantly the team’s performance was unbelievable.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game and that Martin Boyle was a good player.
“But it can be a mental game and if you know someone is faster than you, you need to out play them mentally.
“I think I managed to do that and I didn’t give him any time on the ball.
“In the first half we did well but I thought it still wasn’t good enough.
“We started to create more chances and were getting more people in the box, which we had been working on in training.
“As everyone knows, we haven’t been scoring recently.
“After the team talk at half-time we all came together and found something within ourselves to fight even harder.
“That work ethic helped to award us the victory in the end.”
Saints don’t have a game this weekend because scheduled opponents Motherwell are in League Cup final action.
“It would have been nice for me to get straight back into the action this weekend,” said Tanser.
“It seems like the games are every other week at the moment.
“It will be good to get back to straight Saturdays and, for me, that will help with gaining match fitness.”
