Luke Armstrong wants to fire himself into Motherwell fans’ hearts and land himself an extended stay in Scotland.
The experienced 28-year-old striker is already off the mark, having scored in a 3-1 defeat at home to Celtic on February 1, on his first start, two games into a loan spell from Carlisle United.
Carlisle made it pretty clear in their statement over Armstrong’s loan deal at Fir Park that they didn’t expect to see him back at Brunton Park.
And that was underlined by the player himself saying he fancies a shot at Scottish football full-time.
Armstrong, who was a major scoring success at Harrogate Town and Hartlepool United, said: “I’d love to stay here. I’ve only played a couple of games so far, but that experience [against Celtic] was unbelievable.
“You don’t get that in League 2 or League 1, there’s no teams playing against Celtic, that experience, and the exposure that the Scottish Premiership brings – you want to be involved in that.
“I want to come here, do well, and probably try to stay up here if it keeps going well.
“I thought about [the loan move massively]. This was a really important decision on where to go. I couldn’t stay at Carlisle and not be playing football – you have to be playing.
“There were conversations with a few teams, and this one really stood out as the one I wanted to come to.
“The last couple of seasons haven’t been ideal. Sometimes you just go to a club and it doesn’t work out. That has been the case at Carlisle so far. I want to try and get back going, and I think this is the perfect opportunity here to do it at this club.”
As a loan player, former boss Stuart Kettlewell’s decision to stand down has caused ripples, but Armstrong says it doesn’t really change his situation.
He said: “It has been a bit all over the place. I signed based off conversations with the old gaffer, and obviously he has decided to leave his role. I don’t feel let down. At the end of the day, it’s his decision and if it’s affecting his family, it’s up to him what he does.
“I’m in the same boat as probably everyone else. We don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know who’s going to come in, but all we can do is put everything into it, and the lads have been absolutely brilliant.
“It’s probably one of the best dressing rooms I’ve ever seen, that I’ve ever been involved with. I instantly feel a part of it.”
The Steelmen are back in action on Saturday when the Premiership campaign re-starts with the visit of Ross County.