Mouhamed Niang says he’s loving life at Dumbarton, after taking the gamble of moving into part-time football.
The midfielder joined the Sons from Cove Rangers over the summer, making himself a mainstay of Stevie Farrell’s midfield and a firm favourite with the fans for some dominant displays.
After spells with Partick Thistle, Hartlepool United and Cove, Sena – as the Senegalese midfielder is known throughout the game – admits that switching to part-time football at The Rock was something he wasn’t sure about initially. But he’s convinced that it was the right move at the right time.
He told the Lennox: “The move into part-time football hasn’t been easy. I’ve never been part-time in my life, I’ve been on loan to part-time teams. But football is all I’ve ever done full-time in my life.
“It’s not been easy.
“The teammates I’ve got are brilliant, this is one of the best changing rooms I’ve been in.
“I was worried about coming into a part-time environment. And that was a chat I had with the manager before I came to the club.
“But the boys are brilliant. They’ve helped me to fit in really well.
“The manager has helped me to get a job that I can do outside and I’ve got my own coaching business as well, so I’m loving life and really enjoying it.”
He admits he has aims to get back into the full-time game, but knows that will only be possible if he makes up for lost time by continuing to star for the Sons.
“This is a massive season for me,” Sena continued.
“I’m 25 now, I’m not the oldest player in the world, but I’m not getting any younger either. So I need to make sure that I have a good season.
“Last season was one of those ones, I’d had a bad injury the season before. So although I played a lot of games, I didn’t feel as if I performed as well as I could.
“Now I want to impose myself on every game that we play and take things from there.
I’ve been happy with my performances during the season, but that ultimately means nothing when we aren’t picking up points.
“It was frustrating for the first nine games. The only game I can look back at and think that we were poor in was the Stenny game at home. No other teams could’ve complained if we’d managed to win.
“Personally though I’m feeling fitter each game, and long may it continue. But as long as we’re winning games of football I’m happy.”
Victory against Inverness came against a backdrop of uncertainty at the Caley Jags, who brought a raucous away support to The Rock.
And for Sena it was also a chance for retribution after a controversial second booking against the Highlanders on the opening day of the season, but he says the Sons were purely focused on their own game.
He added: “The Inverness game was never going to be an easy one, we knew they’d make it hard for us. I think they are one of the better teams in the league, they pop the ball about well and have some really good players.
“These games are the hardest because they are a team fighting for their lives. You saw the stadium was busy, they had a big backing and are a massive club. It was hard for us, but the manager made it clear in the build-up that we had to focus on ourselves. And we did that by turning in a good professional display.”