YOANN Folly overcame a massive hurdle with his performance in the weekend win at Middlesbrough.

The next challenge for the Togo international is to hold down a regular place after a torrid two years in his career.

A virus struck down the midfielder soon after he joined the Greens in January 2008 and manager Paul Sturrock believes that combined with a huge dip in confidence to leave Yoann as a bit-part player at Home Park.

Yoann failed to make a first-team appearance in nine months before his surprise selection at the Riverside and he grabbed the rare chance with admirable enthusiasm.

"Yoann's job now is to stay in the team," said Luggy.

"The easy bit, at times, is performing to get selected. The hard bit is staying in the side.

"He has done enough over the piece to merit selection, which I'm pleased about. There is a spring in his step that I've not seen since he came to this football club.

"He did have a virus when he first came and this kind of thing can cling to you for a long time. You can feel ok but people have different reactions, and I'm just hoping that might have been the cause of his problems.

"He wasn't being selected, he lost confidence and his head went down, which made it worse, but, for the last three weeks, he has looked the Yoann I know.

"He realises what he has achieved and how he achieved that. If he does that, we have a new player on our hands."