On-loan Leicester City striker keen to open Raith Rovers account at Falkirk

Leicester City Under-21 striker Harrison Panayiotou believes that joining Raith Rovers on-loan is the perfect springboard to showcase his goalscoring prowess.

After making his debut against Rangers last week, Panayiotou remains self-assured that he can soon open his account for Rovers.

The prolific St. Kitts and Nevis international, who was named Leicester City U-21s’ Player of the Year last season, is keen to make a lasting impression during his four-month loan stay at Stark’s Park.

The City man said: “When you’re a young player at a club pushing to win the English Premier League title, opportunities will, at best, be few and far between.

Panayiotou has found first-team chances hard to come by thanks to the form of Jamie Vardy (pictured) and his Foxes team-mates this season.

“Jamie Vardy has been immense this season, and deserves all the praise that he has received. And while he and Riyad [Mahrez] continue to notch in the goals for Leicester, you can’t really complain. You just have to keep working hard behind the scenes, remain focused, and be ready to take your chance when it comes.

“When I heard about the opportunity to join Raith, I was naturally intrigued to find out more. I knew that they were a well-established Scottish Championship club, but my knowledge of the football scene north of the border was limited.

“Sometimes though you just have to go with your gut feeling and what you gravitate towards. I have never shy’d away from a challenge, so I knew that going on loan to Raith would be a great opportunity, and two weeks on I still feel the same.

“Since arriving in Kirkcaldy, the lads and coaching staff have been great. I genuinely feel that I can hone my football abilities at Raith and score goals, which hopefully I showed against Rangers last week,” added Panayiotou.

The Foxes’ loanee believes that having, potentially, the opportunity to play four to five times a month is a welcome step-up from under 21s’ football, where fixtures are much more spread out.

“Playing regularly is important for any footballer,” explained Panayiotou. “There’s nothing quite like match fitness; however hard you apply yourself on the training ground.

“The tempo of Scottish football too is not that dissimilar to what I’m used to at Leicester, which I enjoy, so it’s like being home from home.

“I genuinely like it here, and hope that I can score plenty of goals for Raith during my loan-stay. It would be great to kick-start my campaign against Falkirk on Saturday,” he added.