Eamonn Brophy believes he can kick on as he settles into St Mirren after finding a style of football more suited to his game.

Brophy has only scored three goals this season after finding himself on the bench more often than starting for Kilmarnock in the first half of the season.

That led to him signing a pre-contract agreement with St Mirren in January before the move was speeded through as a loan for the rest of the season after now-departed Killie boss Alex Dyer told the striker he would be out of his plans.

Brophy said: “I was at Kilmarnock for three-and-a-half years and had some great, great memories there but I just felt for the last six months it went very stale. I wasn’t playing as much as I would have liked and felt I needed a fresh start.

“When I spoke to Jim Goodwin, I knew this was the place to come. I just liked what he had to say. I had a few options and this one caught my attention.

“I feel the way we play suits me a lot better. I am not the biggest so if you go long, trying to fight three centre-backs is not the best idea.

“We try and get the ball down and play at the right times so hopefully I can have a good second half of the season and kick on.”

Brophy admitted he had a few awkward days at Rugby Park after Dyer reacted with disappointment to his pre-contract.

“I signed a pre-contract on the Monday and it was all done by the end of the week,” the 24-year-old said. “The three days in between weren’t great.

“I spoke to the manager (Dyer) after I signed a pre-contract here and he told me what was going to happen for the rest of the season. I was glad to get here sooner rather than later.

“I have still got massive, massive respect for the manager (Dyer). He was unbelievable with me the whole time I was at Kilmarnock. I didn’t play that much in the last six months, but that’s football.

“I have massive respect for him and the club because they believed in me when not a lot of folk did. I had some great, great times there.”

Brophy is looking to get off the mark for his new club ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Celtic but he will not get consumed by his search for a first goal.

“Every striker wants to get that first goal as soon as possible,” he said. “But the team is winning so it kind of takes that pressure off you.

“Nobody really mentions it when the team is winning but as soon as the team stops winning, if I’m not scoring then I’ll get stick, but I have no problem with that.

“I try not to get caught up trying to get that goal because sometimes you can get two or three in a week and then don’t score for a couple of months. I have learned not to try chasing goals because sometimes it’s not the best thing to do.

“But I believe in my ability and I know I can score goals at this level.”