David Moyo feels he has readjusted to full-time football as he looks to kick-start his career at Hamilton.
Accies head coach Brian Rice snapped up the hitman from National League South outfit St Albans in the summer.
Moyo started his career at Northampton but then dropped out of league football with spells at Brackley and Hemel Hempstead to follow.
But the 24-year-old always had faith he would get back into the professional ranks and jumped at the chance to join Accies.
Moyo watched his former Northampton team-mate Louis Moult impress at Motherwell after a spell in the non-league ranks and get a move to Preston on the back of his Fir Park form.
And he hopes to make a similar impact north of the border.
Moyo, who has made two substitute appearances ahead of Saturday’s trip to face St Mirren, said: “I’ve taken a bit of time to adjust to being full-time again but after a while you get used to it. It’s part and parcel of football.
“Of course I always aspired to get back into full-time football, that was the aim.
“It was a bit surreal when I got the call from Hamilton. Now I’m trying to push to get into the team.
“I’ve got to just keep doing the right things, keep in the manager’s head and make it hard for him to keep me out.
“I’d been at Northampton for most of my professional career and then was playing non-league for Brackley Town, Hemel Hempstead Town and St Albans before moving to Hamilton.
“Obviously you have a little bit of doubt whether you’ll get back into full-time football but I always believed there would come a time when I was back full-time. So, I just kept doing the right things and the stars aligned.
“Scottish football is a good environment to be in. A lot of the boys that have played non-league have a lot of hunger and they want to come up here and prove themselves, just like I do. It’s a good stepping stone.
“I played with Louis Moult at Northampton, so I know if I do well I could go along the same lines and go down the same route.”
Hamilton received plaudits but no points for their performance against Celtic in a 1-0 loss and Moyo knows they will need to display the same attitude and application in Paisley.
He said: “We’ve got to work just as hard against every team as we do against the bigger teams. So we take that into every game.”
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