The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Young aiming to silence one of his own protégés
East Fife boss gave Ross County striker his senior level break
East Fife manager Darren Young knows his side will need to keep a striker he unearthed quiet if the Methil men are to spring a shock against Ross County in their Irn-Bru Cup semi-final.
Young gave Ross Stewart a chance in senior football and he is hoping the 22-year-old does not pay him back by scoring tonight.
The Bayview boss said: “I was made aware of Ross when he was at Kilwinning and offered him the chance to go senior at Albion Rovers.
“He was under contract but Rovers, Ross and his dad clubbed together to buy out his deal there to allow him to join. He did well and earned a move to St Mirren where he was moved out on loan to Alloa and he starred there.
“He ended up at Ross County and when I saw him come on and score against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup on Monday night, I felt a mix of joy and dread.
“He can be a real handful. However, they have other players who can hurt you so whilst we need to snuff him out, we cannot just concentrate all our attention on him.”
The Fifers head north in good spirts despite their defeat to Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup last weekend.
“We pushed a Championship side all the way,” Young said. “We were disappointed afterwards. However, our performance has given us belief for County.
“We are going there knowing we can hold our own against Championship sides, as we have shown a few times this season.
“We also know that we can give teams from that level problems in different formations.
“There could be a temptation to say that this is a semi-final and East Fife do not get into many of them and therefore we should just go for it. I reckon we need to be cleverer than that as they will punish us if we leave ourselves wide open.
“There could be a time for going for broke, but I do not envisage that being from the first minute.”
Fifers captain Kevin Smith has urged his team-mates to seize the moment and take the Methil club into their first cup final in 65 years.
The experienced marksman won the league and Challenge Cup double with Queen of the South during the 2012-13 campaign and admits that achievement remains among his career highlights.
Smith is now desperate to lift more silverware and has implored the League One promotion hopefuls not to let the chance of a rare cup final appearance pass them by.
He said: “That day I won it with Queens was brilliant and we managed to do the double that year, the league and the cup. It was really special.
“I have been trying to hammer home to the young lads that this might be the only chance you get of silverware.
“I cherish the winners’ medal I’ve got. It’s in the house and I’ve got photographs of the day. It was brilliant and you try and not take these days for granted as they might not happen again.”
Fife’s Scott Agnew remains absent due to a shoulder injury, Broque Watson is cup-tied and Mark Docherty is a doubt after illness.
Staggies pair Harry Paton and Daniel Armstrong are available after being cuptied against Caley but Callum Semple is ruled out after playing for Queen of the South earlier in the tournament. Sean Kelly, Liam Fontaine, Callum Morris and Iain Vigurs are also injured.