Michael McGovern is loving life at new club Hamilton. The Fermanagh goalkeeper has helped his side to a surprise second place in the Scottish Premier League, and despite only being at the club for three months he has set a club record of 437 minutes without conceding a goal in the top flight.

“I’ve settled in really well,” he said. “It has gone better than anyone could have dreamt for the team, and obviously I have played every game and I feel I have done reasonable well. I have got the clean sheet record for the club a couple of weeks ago, and we have beaten Celtic as well so it has really been a good start.” Having been promoted last season Hamilton started the season with the aim of avoiding relegation, and Michael admits that survival remains the number one priority, despite only two defeats in their opening 12 games. “The target coming up from the Championship was always staying in the league and getting the 40 points that would give us another season,” he said. “If and when we get that we will look at it again, but we are not big on setting targets. We will take each game as it comes and that has worked so far for us. I’m delighted about how it has gone so far and we want to keep it going. Hopefully we can continue what we have done so far and improve on it as the season goes on. We know it will be hard to improve on but there is no reason why we can’t.” Michael spent three years at Falkirk but decided to make the move to Hamilton so he could experience Premier League football, and he admits he has settled in very quickly. “It’s not been difficult because the dressing room is really good,” he said. “The boys are a close knit group and the manager is really good as well so it has been a really easy transition. It’s always good when you go to a different club. It’s a fresh challenge. You have to set out to impress people and it’s good for me personally to have that. Falkirk wanted to keep me and they offered me a new contract and everything was great there and it was brilliant for me. It was comfortable, but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself at a higher level. I’m very ambitious and I want to play at as high a level as I can.” Michael has also established himself as a member of the Northern Ireland squad, and has been named in Michael O’Neill’s latest squad to take on Romania. Despite having to play second fiddle to fellow Fermanagh man Roy Carroll, Michael is loving being part of the international scene. “Obviously Roy is playing but I still feel part of the squad and we have been getting brilliant results,” he said. “Roy is obviously number one goalkeeper and rightly so. He has been different class since he came back in under Michael. You have Alan Mannus who has established himself in the Premier League and has done really well but I am looking to push on as much as I can. I feel that playing the Premier League gives me a lot more chances of mounting a serious challenge comparted to if I was playing in the championship. Things happen in football and you don’t like to see anyone getting injured or suspended but if anything did happen I feel like I would be ready to step in.”