NEW Partick Thistle signing Miles Storey says his year on the fringes at Aberdeen has made him hungrier to succeed.
Storey only managed two starts for the Dons after joining from Swindon following a successful loan spell with Inverness, where he hit 13 goals.
The pacey forward found it difficult to dislodge Adam Rooney and was allowed to move to Alan Archibald’s side on Friday after Stevie May arrived at Pittodrie.
Storey, who joined the club along with Conor Sammon, said: “It has definitely given me more motivation. I’m not saying I wasn’t motivated before but it’s definitely given me more motivation to get into a team and stay in it because I know it’s horrible, that even when you feel that you are doing well enough in training to get into the team, you are nowhere near it.
“I know what it’s like to not play and I don’t want to get that feeling again. So I am going to try my hardest to get in this team. I could never have foreseen I was going to have such a strange year and not play. The last game I started for Aberdeen was in August of last year, against Thistle. I managed to score in that game and I haven’t started since.
“It’s frustrating, but it happens. There were a number of reasons. Aberdeen had an unbelievable run last year where they won 10 or 11 games on the bounce. So you can’t really have a moan about that.
“It was a fantastic club to be at and it has given me the motivation to do well here.”
Storey has already shown he can bounce back from his frustration, impressing in pre-season and netting his second goal for Aberdeen in their opening Premiership game against Hamilton. But he admitted there were difficult times.
“It was tough,” he said. “You have your days where you maybe don’t want to go in. At 23 years old you want to be playing football. You hopefully come in to your prime at 25 or 26 and that’s why I needed to get away. I couldn’t do another year of that and, to be fair to the manager at Aberdeen, he promised me I could get my move and I have done.
“There were a few options in Scotland and a few down south but I always wanted to stay in the [Scottish] league. I enjoy it and the coverage it gets. And after speaking to the manager and knowing about the club from being an away player, I just felt it was the right move.”
Storey has already been at the centre of the action for Thistle after coming off the bench in Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Celtic.
The forward looked to have been fouled in the box by Nir Bitton in stoppage time but Andrew Dallas waved play on.
Storey said: “I don’t want to get myself into trouble but I think you get that [decision] against anyone else, anywhere else on the pitch.
“But it’s a big call to make, in the 92nd minute against Celtic. But, at the end of the day, it’s a foul. I’m running at pace and I’ve been clipped and there is nothing I could have done to stay up.”
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