ST MIRREN new boy Jon Robertson has branded the build-up to the SPL kick-off against Inverness as the biggest week in his career.
The summer recruit from Cowdenbeath was given the full 90 minutes of Friday's 1-0 defeat at Carlisle and backed that up with another start as the Buddies ended their pre-season with a 1-1 draw at Accrington Stanley on Sunday.
With Saints skipper Jim Goodwin, along with Steven Thompson and Marc McAusland, suspended for Saturday's SPL opener with Inverness at Greenhill Road, Robbo is hoping he can use the final week of the build-up to clinch a start.
The 23-year-old said: "I was really pleased to get the amount of game time I did in our two games down in England and hopefully I have done enough to build a case for myself for the opener with Inverness.
"But over the next two or three days it is going to be about delivering the best I possibly can in training every day and seeing where that takes me. With Jim Goodwin suspended, that means there is a place up for grabs in the midfield and I'd like to hope I am in the mix for it.
"I really enjoyed the game against Carlisle on Friday night as we played a 4-4-2 and I was paired with Paul McGowan in the middle of the park and got a fair amount of ball. To follow that up with the full 90 minutes against them with another start and almost 80 minutes at Accrington was really satisfying.
"But, as I said, there is still an awful lot of work to be done before the Inverness game and I will treat every training session between now and then as the most important of my career. It would mean the world to me to get a starting shirt for the opener and even more so given it is at home in front of our fans."
The versatile Robertson says he is pleased with the way he has adopted to the full-time regime at the Paisley club and is determined to keep on improving.
Robbo said: "At times when we were on our training camp in Spain I still found it hard to believe that I was over there. But it really helped to get to know the boys and I feel like I have gelled with them well.
"I feel like I am learn-ing and improving with every game though and that there is still a lot more to come from me."
Saturday's SPL curtain-raiser pits Saints against a side they failed to beat in any of their four meetings with Terry Butcher's men last term.
With the Paisley side having lost three and drawn just one of these fixtures, Robbo is gearing himself up for a revenge mission on the Highlanders.
The new Saint said: "A few of the lads have told me that we didn't do too well against Inverness last season so there is no shortage of motivation ahead of Saturday. Given that we have home advantage, we have a great chance to hit the ground running by making the most of that.
"After the backing we received from our support for the two-game tour of England, I am sure the St Mirren support can definitely give us a twelfth man on Saturday."