Bryan refuses to rule out shock cup winners with run still Young
THERE’S no getting away from the fact that Pollok are about to get a lot stronger given a number of players are coming back from injuries and also no escaping that they are one of the teams to avoid in Friday night’s Macron Scottish Junior Cup fifthround draw.
Saturday’s penalty shootout victory over Glenafton saw the Newlandsfield outfit progress into the last 16 where they could be in the company of seven other top Premiership clubs assuming holders Auchinleck Talbot and Renfrew prevail in their fourth-round encounters.
And bookmakers and pundits alike cannot see beyond Talbot, last season’s beaten finalists Hurlford United, Kilwinning Rangers or Pollok emerging as winners of the game’s most coveted silverware.
Yet putting that very point to Pollok midfielder Bryan Young, a five-time Junior Cup winner from his 12-year stint at Auchinleck, evoked a considered but guarded response.
The 32-year-old insisted: “It’s a quartet that will certainly take some beating but I would never be so disrespectful as to write off so many other teams and particularly at this stage of the competition when all manner of pairings can come out of the draw.
“What I will say is beating a very good Glenafton side over two games is massive for us because the Glens would quite rightly have been tipped to go all the way if they had knocked us out.”
He added: “Andy Leishaman at Auchinleck is a fantastic goalkeeper who is recognised as the best there is in the Juniors and I recall playing in cup ties where he saved us from certain defeat.
“Jordan Longmuir is every REAL MADRID and Croatia star Luka Modric has claimed the 2018 Ballon d’Or at a ceremony in Paris.
It is the first time since 2007 that the award has gone to a player other than Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
Modric described Ronaldo and Messi as “phenomenal players”, adding: “To win means I did something really special on the pitch this year, that’s why 2017-18 was the year for me.”
The prize completes and fine 12 months for Modric, who won the Champions League with his club at the end of last season and was named Best FIFA Footballer of the Year in September after helping his country reach the World Cup final in Russia, where he was awarded the Golden Ball.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” said Modric, the first Croatian player to win the award. “It’s a big pleasure to be here among all these players.
“I am still trying to realise that I have become part of a group of exceptional players to win the Ballon d’Or.”
The former Tottenham midfielder, who began his senior career with Dinamo Zagreb, thanked his parents for the “sacrifices” they made to allow him to become a professional.
“In my career I’ve realised that hard work and persistence in difficult moments sets the foundation to show your talent,” he added.
“One phrase I like to say: ‘The best things never come easy.’ For me to achieve all this, nothing was easy.”
Griezmann’s international team-mate Kylian Mbappe was named in fourth place, with Messi fifth. bit as important to this Pollok team but doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”
Meanwhile, the reasons for Pollok’s puzzling half time substitution of midfielder Jamie Henry were cleared up by team boss Murdie McKinnon last night when he also revealed why hitman Adam Forde played no part in the weekend cup game.
He said: “Jamie took a head knock just before half-time that left him mildly concussed and made him violently sick in the dressing room so we took him off as a precaution even though he was insisting he was fit to go back out.”