Don’t give ‘em Royal send-off
DARREN KERR warned Dalbeattie Star can’t afford to give Hawick Royal Albert any festive faith in today’s basement battle.
Second-bottom Star will look to play their first league game in three weeks when they travel across the country to Albert Park.
Eleven points separate the bottom two with Hawick losing all 15 of their league games this term.
But Star boss Kerr, who has been boosted by the return of James Baty, Liam Park, Greig Thorburn and Hugh Cameron, said: “We won’t be complacent about this match because it’s absolutely vital.
“We got a good training session on Tuesday night after not getting a game on Saturday again.
“We’ve got almost everyone available so it should be good.
“We just want to get points on the board again and it’s vital we get a win for we don’t want Hawick to come chasing us.
“This game is going to be massive for us for you can’t take anything away from Hawick – they’re as well drilled as everyone in the league is.
“They’ve improved recently and we just want to make sure it’s not us they pick up their points against. It will come at some point and last season they gave us a decent game up there. It was tough and a decent game to watch.
“We won’t be underestimating them. Hopefully we can pick up three points and start chasing the teams above us instead of looking down.
“We just hope we can get a win and the momentum started then keep it going. We need to have a positive start to the New Year.”
Leaders BSC Glasgow head for Stirling University while second-top Spartans welcome Gala Fairydean Rovers and champions East Kilbride are at home to Selkirk.
LOWLAND
FALKIRK abandoning their renowned academy this week sent shockwaves around the game which rippled right down to the grassroots.
What happens to the young Bairns going through their grounding at the Forth Valley Academy right now?
Those boys will now have to find an alternative route to their ultimate goal of playing football at the very highest level they can.
And if there was an opportunity for junior clubs to prove our grade is one of those other stepping stones into the professional game this has to be it.
In bygone years the juniors helped produce young players of the ilk of Billy McNeill, Jim Baxter and Tommy Gemmell. Of course the game has changed beyond all recognition in the decades since then but so to have many junior clubs in terms of coaching, youth systems and philosophies.
Chris Erskine, Kris Doolan and Darian Mackinnon are three modernday top-flight stars who stepped straight out the juniors to their current clubs.
And the three divisions below in the SPFL are littered with talent plucked from clubs battling away in the SJFA set-up, proving this pathway is still a well-trodden route into the pro game. It could be even more so.
Last week I listened to Alex Rae voice his fears over an emergence of “washbag footballers” – young guys coming through at “pro youth” thinking they’ve made it. Youngsters with all the ability in the world on the ball but lacking the fundamental qualities off it – shape, organisation, pressuring the ball and basic hard work.
Three ethics that are absolutely pivotal to the junior game. Players might get away without them in the development leagues but don’t think for a second they won’t be found out against the Auchinlecks, Kilbirnies, Bonnyriggs and Linlithgows.
We’ve had the pleasure of having Morton youngster David Anderson on loan at Johnstone Burgh this season – a young guy with aspirations to graduate from Under-20s football to the next level, proper full-time professional football.
Jim Duffy’s side have sent four of their thriving development team out to the juniors to further their footballing experience. It’s heartening to see and I bet you every one of them is reaping the benefit of the dual learning curve.
There is no doubt in my mind the junior grade has a part to play in helping develop the next generation in Scottish football. Be it stepping in to offer a new start to youngsters squeezed out of academy football by the emergence of Project Brave or taking more teenagers on dual loan deals or simply producing our own through the burgeoning youth set-ups at junior clubs.
And I know from speaking to coaches at the top clubs in Ayrshire, Glasgow, the Lothians and Fife that they might be all hell-bent on bringing success to their clubs but nothing gives them more satisfaction than seeing one of their own step up to professional football.