PIERO Mingoia is looking to celebrate his new Accrington Stanley contract by adding goals to his game, and booking a summer holiday.

The midfielder went away last summer not knowing what his future would hold following his release from Watford.

Having come through the youth ranks at Vicarage Road, he admitted trying to find a new club was a unnerving situation.

“I was on the phone every day seeing if there were any updates regarding new clubs. I couldn’t relax,” admitted the 22-year-old, who had a loan spell with Stanley last season.

“It went on longer than I’d expected. I knew it would be hard but I didn’t realise how hard it actually is.

“I’m not too sure what I would have done without the offer to be honest. I would probably have gone semi-pro and ended up with a day job. Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that now!”

Mingoia made the most of the short-term deal he was offered by Reds boss James Beattie, who this week recognised his efforts by extending his contract to the summer of 2015.

“I thought that contracts are normally sorted out in the summer or closer to when your (original) contract expires so it came as a nice surprise,” added Mingoia.

“The manager just sat me down and told me they thought I’d been doing quite well and wanted to reward me with a new contract. It was music to my ears.

“It generally raises your whole mood. To know that the staff think a lot of you is a real honour.

“It’s going to be a completely different summer to last year for me personally.”

But Mingoia knows there is plenty of work to do before then as the Reds bid to pull clear of the relegation zone, starting with tomorrow’s visit of Bury.

“It’s a derby game and where we both are in the league makes it an even bigger game.

“Three points against them can really kick us on to finish the season well,” said the Londoner.

“I’m only 22 so I have loads to improve on, first of all scoring a few more goals.

“That’s something I’d like to add to my game that I think is missing at the minute. Hopefully they’ll come and I can keep improving physically, technically and mentally.”