There is no way that goalkeeper Ross Stewart will be taking his big opportunity at St Mirren for granted, after the club saved him from delivering white goods to the outer reaches of the country.

While part-time at Albion Rovers last season, the former Motherwell kid took on a job as a delivery man, and found himself delivering fridges and cookers to all four corners of Scotland in-between training and matches.

That has given him a whole new respect for his profession, and has made him more determined than ever to prove that he can cut it in the relative luxury of the full-time game.

“I’m excited to be in, getting to know the boys and being back in full-time football,” Stewart said. “The transition’s been okay, it was harder going from full-time football to part-time.

“For part of the season I was a delivery driver. It was long days. I’d get back late and have to push myself to go to the gym.

“I’d have to go to places like Thurso and Campbeltown. That’s pretty much the end of the world! All the way from Merchant City in Glasgow.

“Ryan Wallace is now at Stranraer and we’d team up. My boss was good. If he knew we had a game on the Saturday he’d maybe give us an easier run the day before.

“For the second part of the season I was doing community work in schools. A lot of that was football-based. It makes me appreciate being back in full-time football all the more.

“It’s a hard league down there, so I had to push myself as hard as I could.

“I don’t think I ever took it for granted at Motherwell, I pushed myself as hard as I could but I couldn’t do anything more. I was behind people like Darren Randolph, who is down in the English Premier League now.

“I was looking for someone to take a gamble on me. Most managers want experienced goalkeepers, so when I heard Darren Young and Billy Stark were interested in me I jumped at it.

“I still had the full-time mentality and training on days off. When I left Motherwell my goal was to drop down a couple of leagues to build myself back up. I knew I had to do that. It’s a lot of days on your own in the gym and I had friends at other clubs that I’d train with goalkeeper-wise.

“It was great to get that match experience.”

And when it comes to the experience that Stewart gained, it wasn’t all about standing up to the physicality of strikers in Scotland’s lower leagues.

While that undoubtedly has helped his development as a goalkeeper, and makes him feel able to challenge for a starting place at St Mirren, he had the added pressure of making sure that his teammates didn’t miss out on their Saturday night dinner.

“I was playing against men every week,” he said. “Guys who were playing for an extra £30 for their curry on a night out.

“I’m not saying some of them were ‘evil’ but they want to be winning! If you make a mistake and you’ve cost them their chicken curry then you’ll hear about it.

“I matured playing there and now I feel ready to compete against people like Craig Samson, while also learning for him. It will be difficult but Craig and Jamie Langfield are pushing me every day in training. “I’m not here to make up the numbers. I’ve got a taste for playing so I want to push on here.”