‘His quality is clear to see’
Sigurdur in action back home in Iceland into their squad and letting me train. So getting to play matches, too, is just perfect.”
Settling into the team, who are chasing promotion from the Premier League North, has been made easy. But Sigurdur joked that there has been a slight language barrier in the heat of battle.
“I like the roughness of the game here and I also like all of the swear words and how the teams bad-mouth each other,” he smiled. “That’s cool.”
He added: “They are good guys in the team. Most of the time I don’t really understand them because they are talking so fast and the accent is a bit different for me. It’s especially different on the pitch during training and in games because it’s quite intense.
“The communication has to be fast so you can respond to it but, then again, I don’t really understand what they are saying! But they are all good and invited me to go golfing on Sunday.
“I don’t really know what to expect for the rest of my time. I know Luncarty Luncarty have given their new signing a warm welcome are one of the best teams in the league. We are playing Dundee Violet now and I’m sure that will be a tough game.
“It’s a cup game and it’s going to be competitive for sure. All of these games are competitive.”
When Sigurdur returns to the north of Iceland, he will be joining a Thor side who have aspirations of climbing up to the country’s top division. It would mean a lot. And so would pulling on the strip in the Europa League again.
He said: “Thor has a really good team right now and have more than one good player in each spot. So there is competition to get into the team. We have 16 to 18 quality players.
“The goal is to go up and with this team we should do that. I think we have a strong enough team to compete with at least the bottom half of the top league back home, maybe even higher.
“I would love to get back to the Europa League. You always want more and if you’re not aiming as high as you can go, why bother?” Luncarty manager Jon Kelly is thrilled with his loan signing Luncarty manager Jon Kelly has been very impressed with the quality of new loan signing Sigurdur Marinó Kristjánsson.
The midfielder from Iceland has joined the Bleachers on a month-long loan deal from Þór Akureyri and has not taken long to settle in.
Kelly would love to have the 27-year-old for a longer period of time and will be making sure he gets the most out of him.
“He’s got quality,”Kelly said.“We had a few injuries on Saturday so he went straight into the team.
“With Richard Doig out, it was an easy decision because he’s had experience up front as well. He played as a striker when he was younger.
“You could see his quality straight away in training last week. He is very good on the ball.
“You can tell because people who have played at a high level very rarely give the ball away. He’s had Europa League experience, scoring a hat-trick in the qualifiers.
“He’s only here for a month but you never know what his work might bring in the future. If he was ever back over he would be made more than welcome.”
Kelly was pleased with the performance of his new recruit in Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League North win against Arbroath Vics.
He said:“He won the penalty for one of the goals on Saturday. Our game is probably a bit faster and I think he took a few knocks.
“When he won the penalty, he got a good kick on the head on the way down. But he is strong when on the ball.
“Even for our younger players, it’s great for them to be playing around him, even if it is only for a month.
“Obviously we are not a professional team but he was quite impressed with the standard of training.
“The lads have been great with him and have made him feel welcome. He played well on Saturday so there are no qualms about starting him again. We’ll use him as much as we can.”
Next up for the Bleachers is a Signature Signs Cup match at home to Dundee Violet.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game, Kelly said:“We’ve only played Violet in the League Cup this season. We have changed the team around in that competition and didn’t really get on too well.
“We’ll be looking to step it up against them on Saturday because it’s a cup we want to stay in.
“We’ve drawn and lost to them this season so we’re wanting to turn that around and have a go at them.” Brownlands Park will be a different experience from his football in the north of Iceland