Under the watchful eye of first team coach Vitezslav Lavicka and assistant Michal Zach, the playmaker put in an eyecatching shift capped off by a wonder goal in a 3-1 win over Gold Coast United at Cromer Park on Saturday.

Ramsay changed the game in the second half with a performance emblematic of his current desperation to earn a senior contract at the club.

Immediately after the break, two telling runs from Ramsay down both wings stung Gold Coast's muscular defence. United failed to heed this warning and on 57 minutes, a moment of magic from the 21-year-old gave Sydney a 2-1 lead.

Picking the ball up about 30m out, Ramsay steadied, assessed the situation and let fly with stinging drive that bust Jerrard Tyson's net.

"I just made some space and thought 'why not' and had a crack. It was a tight game, you've got to take your chances and fortunately it went into the top corner," Ramsay told au.fourfourtwo.com after the game.

The Sky Blue first team could have used Ramsay's urgency 24 hours later as they timidly succumbed to Gold Coast 1-0 in the A-League.  In the end, a third goal to teen striker Kerem Bulut finished off Gold Coast 3-1.

Like other fringe players at Moore Park, it's do-or-die for Ramsay. Too old for the youth league next season, he must hope to impress enough in the NYL and in training to earn a first team contract offer over the coming months.

And for Ramsay, not only is it about a first team contract, it's about making up for a horror spell last season.

The Sydney Olympic player trialled with Sydney FC last year but a stress fracture effectively ended his season. Five months out, his chance gone, Ramsay was devastated.

"I lost a year and I'm hungry to get that back," he said. "I'm just trying to make up for lost time."

In build and in style, Ramsay is eerily similar to Steve Corica. And training with the first team squad alongside Corica and Karol Kisel (two of his heroes at the club), has only fuelled his desire to play alongside them. 

"If the chance comes I'm hungry to take it. I like to create and stick balls in behind and create a lot of chances," he said.

Former Socceroo Gerry Gomez - who works for Sydney FC in a support capacity - said Ramsay just needs to believe in himself.

"What we're here for is to encourage the boys to believe in themselves," said Gomez. "Iain can take people on and has a good shot so he has to believe in that."

Ramsay, a full-timer at the club, isn't exactly a raw youth having been on the books of Scottish club Gretna in their youth team as a 17-year-old (his father is Scottish, his mother from the Philippines).

He wasn't offered a first team contract after two years in Scotland but now he's hoping Sydney give him that chance.

Ramsay added: "In the NYL, everyone's fighting for the same thing, a first team contract."

*In other youth news, Barcelona youth coach and technical director for the club's Middle East coaching schools, Ruben Della Morte, will be in Australia running coaching seminars with Gomez over the next ten days. Lismore, Melbourne and Sydney are the venues. Register at gerry@sydneysfa.com.au