JEVAN Anderson wants to use the step-up from part-time football to improve as a player and get into the Burton Albion first-team.
The 19-year-old defender this week signed a one-year deal to become Nigel Clough’s third signing of the summer, following the arrivals of John-Joe O’Toole from Northampton Town and Richard Nartey on loan from Chelsea.
Before joining up with The Brewers, Anderson, a former Aberdeen youth player, was plying his trade in the Scottish Highland League with Formartine United.
And having gone from working part-time at a pub to training full-time at the National Football Centre at St George’s Park, Anderson wants to take advantage of that to develop as a player and force his way into Nigel Clough’s thoughts.
“I was working part-time at a pub and at college studying three days a week, and playing part-time as well,” Anderson said of his time with Formartine.
“I was doing as much as I could in my spare time to keep my fitness up and work on my game as much as possible.
“But with only training twice a week and a game on a Saturday, there’s only limited time with the team in which to play, so I’m looking forward to playing and training full-time.
“When I came down for my trial, the facilities and pitches were not what I was used to in the slightest! But I’m really enjoying it.
“I’m really looking to improve and training day-in, day-out will only help me with fitness and everything. Once I get my feet fully on the ground hopefully I can impress and show the manager what I can do, pushing towards getting in his thoughts.
“At the end of the day I’m here to play football.”
And Anderson’s first day of full-time training was certainly a tough one - taking part in the dreaded first-day bleep tests as well as some runs and ball-work with the rest of the first-team.
“It’s probably the first one I’ve done - I’m not really used to it but it was good being thrown right in at the deep end,” Anderson added.
“But it’s all about that and I did reasonably!
“There’s always room for improvement, no matter how much work you do in pre-season. But I’m reasonably happy with how my first day has gone.”
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