Bohemians midfielder Scott Allardice demonstrated in last Monday night's 2-0 EA Sports Cup semi-final win against Cork City, why he's been dubbed by some - the Tartan Hammer.

In his first full 90 minutes since moving from Scotland to join the Gypsies at the start of the season, the 21-year-old crunched into every tackle like a man on a mission but also showed that he has an eye for a pass.

Allardice has had to bide his time, with just one previous start and a handful of cameos off the bench, due to Conor Levingston and Keith Buckley's excellent form but he always knew he could impress when given the chance.

"I've come in every single day and I've worked [to] my absolute maximum and I've been performing in training," Allardice told Off The Ball.

"So even with the game the other night, I knew I was going to play well because I've put it all into training. I've worked extremely hard and I knew when the opportunity came that I would be at it."

Scott Allardice praises coaching from Trevor Croly

Allardice came through the ranks at Scottish Championship club Dundee United, one of his local clubs, where he made his senior debut at the age of 19 before loan spells with League One outfits, East Fife and Dumbarton.

He feels that he is in even better physical condition now though and credits his new manager Keith Long and his assistant Trevor Croly.

"Keith and Trevor, they put values on it from the club. They say it's hard work. It is hard work and it's been tough. Some of us joke about it, saying it's the running club at times!

"But that's just because we're so....you see it...it's like the other day (vs Cork), we're fit!

"It's the fittest I've probably felt, and I've not played an awful lot, because everything we do, we do it right to the highest intensity we can and that comes from Trevor to be fair.

"He's mad but he's brilliant. He doesn't let you switch off. Every wee detail has to be spot on and that's why we're doing so well because it gets drummed into us that it's not okay to be off it some days.

"If you're not feeling it or something's happened during the day or that, you need to come into training and work your absolute balls off.

"And we're doing that and we're getting...well we've not got any rewards yet...but that's why we're doing so well. Yeah, we've hit a wee bit of a blip just now but I know fine well that we'll pick back up and we'll go again in training."

Allardice played both as a centre-half and a defensive midfielder in Scotland but has a preference for the latter position.

He admits, playing under Long and Croly, that he has had to become a lot more mobile than he had been previously.

"It's probably taken a while for me to get adjusted to it," said Allardice.

"I've had to even adapt my game. When I first came in I was always more disciplined but even the other day I was everywhere, pressing high up and they're big on that.

"If you don't let the opponent settle, they'll not play their own game and then we can go and show what we're about.

"That's where it comes from, the hard work but also the good structure to it. Everyone's come in, no-one sulks or questions the gaffer or that because we're all young boys trying to find our way so that's the only way we know, is to graft.

"Everyone, from Detser [Derek Pender] to Bucko [Keith Buckley], the older heads, they lead it as well and they know what the club's about and the younger ones are following."

The full Scott Allardice interview will be available on the Off The Ball YouTube channel from tomorrow.

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