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Young Hoops Showed Scottish Football’s Cynics How It’s Done Tonight

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Tonight the Young Hoops showed off their skills by quite simply destroying Annan in their first game in the new format Irn Bru Cup. This, of course, is the old Petrofac Cup, which has been rejigged to make it more interesting. I’ll tell you, I like the look of it. The idea is right. It’s ambitious and offers the youth teams in the Premier League a chance to play actual competitive games.

Tonight our all-conquering youth team showed the rest how it is done. They stormed to a 5-1 win and believe me when I say that result did not flatter them. They earned it. It was magic to watch. The performance was first rate. They went a goal down early in the game, but when the Young Hoops got rolling there was simply no stopping them.

The man of the match was Aiden Nesbitt, who bagged a double and simply ran riot. Aitchison, Hendry and young PJ Crossan added the others.

The papers tomorrow will barely mention this match but they should. After all, they gushed all over Sevco when they beat Annan last month at Ibrox, in the brand new League Cup format. That game finished 2-0, with the full Sevco team out – you know, the one that’s going to do this and that and sweep aside all comers.

Tonight, our boys – our kids – doubled that with a cherry on top. This is a performance Sevco’s first team squad would never have gotten near. Imagine that?

The confidence of these kids is extraordinary. There is no reason, none at all, why our kids can’t win this tournament, and that is not arrogance talking. These kids are phenomenally talented like you wouldn’t believe. They proved it tonight. No team is going to want to draw them.

This tournament is already being knocked by some people, of course.

One of The Record’s hacks wrote a ludicrous piece on it today, slating the organisers, the format, the whole idea of it. You can smell the fear wafting off these people.

Sevco are the holders of this tournament but when you look at how abysmal their Development Squad was last season in their league you can see why they are worried. They will get found out and pumped by whoever draws them in the next round, provided that my alma mater Stirling University doesn’t do them on Wednesday.

There is nothing for our youth team to fear though. Tommy McIntyre has them playing simply outstanding football. They are a joy to watch, especially Nesbitt, Aitchison, Ralston and the ever-improving Calvin Miller. He is going to be a cracker.

Big Ajar played tonight too, in midfield, and he strolled. It seems that this kid is more comfortable in the middle of the pitch, although Brendan believes he can function just as well as a centre back. We have a lot of competition in midfield, so I would probably prefer we developed him as a defender, but either way he looks very promising.

Tonight we saw the future, and the future looks very good indeed.

What’s that saying?

Oh yes. The Future’s Bright. The Future’s Green & White.

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