Emmanuel Adegboyega is loving life at Dundee United after scoring a stoppage time clincher for the win over St Mirren.
The centre-back enjoyed a fine start to his loan spell at Tannadice and even featured on Not the Old Firm’s list of best performing Premiership defenders early in the season.
He then lost his starting place for the draw against Rangers at Ibrox but was reinstated at the weekend and repaid manager Jim Goodwin in spades.
Norwich City hold a recall option on the 21-year-old and could exercise that in the January window.
Adegboyega wants to stay at Dundee United
But Adegboyega wants to see out his loan season at Dundee United in full.
The Irishman has opened up on missing out on the Rangers game and was happy to get a full explanation from Goodwin.
He’s now targeting keeping his place in the side this team and continuing to get the most out of his loan spell in the Premiership.
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Adegboyega told The Courier: “I see myself as a Dundee United player. I can’t look that far ahead (to January); we have a lot of football to play. Whatever happens, happen
“I don’t want to miss games. I want to play every single match.
“But if there’s a tactical decision from the gaffer, then it is what it is. I just keep working hard and looking towards the next match. That’s exactly what I did.
“The gaffer communicated with me brilliantly; he told me the reason why I missed out against Rangers – I understood his thinking – and of course I’m not happy. No player should be.
“But I always keep my head up and cheer on the team from the sidelines.”
Adegboyega loves defending
Despite getting himself on the scoresheet for the second time this season, Adegboyega knows his primary job is defending.
He isn’t allowed to forget it by Goodwin but insists he enjoys that side of the game anyway and was delighted to end with a clean sheet against the Buddies.
He added: “I’ve got my job to do, and I was delighted with how it all played out; clean sheet, on the scoresheet. In a game like that – as messy as it was – it was great to get a clean sheet. The gaffer is always drumming into us, ‘As a defender, get the clean sheet first’.
“They (St Mirren) were bombarding us from the first minute to the last and, as a back three, you’ve got to stand tall. We stuck together. We have a passion for working hard and keeping the ball out of the net.
“We love defending – all the boys want to get into the battle; win tackles; win headers – and that’s what you can see on the pitch.”