Buoyant Boyd too hot for United
Striker’s harsh fitness regime pays off in style
STEVEN BOYD has revealed how his gruelling training regime during lockdown helped inspire Peterhead to their shock Betfred Cup victory over Dundee United.
The Blue Toon striker, who works as a full- time personal trainer, reaped the benefits at the weekend as his 51st- minute winner sank Micky Mellon’s Premiership outfit and gave Jim McInally’s men an unlikely win to begin their Group C campaign in the most spectacular fashion.
Boyd, 23, decided to make the most of the season being called early in April by throwing himself into his own rigorous schedule while also putting other fellow professionals through their paces.
The former Hamilton striker’s intensive efforts ensured United endured a rather torturous time on Saturday. Aside from his goal, he displayed an impressive level of industry, a point certainly not lost on his manager.
Boyd wasted no time in citing his work behind the scenes as a major factor in contributing towards the League One side claiming victory in their first competitive match since losing 3- 0 to Falkirk in March.
Boyd said: “My fitness is definitely a lot better this season. I’ve worked hard during lockdown and preseason and my game is definitely benefiting. I was following my own training programme because I work as a personal trainer outside of football so I’ve been working hard on that.
“I do both HIT [ high intensity training] and weights and then training myself as well to keep myself fit.
“Through lockdown I was doing a lot of HIT with a lot of boys from other teams joining in as well because they couldn’t get to a gym.
“But now it’s mainly weights because I get the running side of it from football.
“My fitness being better has made a difference on the ball because you need to work hard off the ball and then when you get the ball you could be knackered, but if your fitness is better it’s a lot easier when you get the ball.
“The off- the- ball side of the game is something I’ve got to prove I can do so hopefully I showed that.”
Boyd’s finish was sweet from Andrew McCarthy’s cross and no more than the part- time visitors deserved ahead of tomorrow night’s trip to face lowly Brechin City at Glebe Park, where victory would enhance their hopes of qualification to the next stage of the competition.
It arose after McCarthy, the former Partick Thistle midfielder, had delivered yet another sumptuous cross which the home defence failed to deal with, and goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet could only watch as the ball nestled in his far corner.
There was a brief flurry of pressure from the home side – who welcome Barry Ferguson’s Kelty Hearts to Tayside tomorrow – but rarely did they look like forcing penalties.
Calum Butcher, their skipper, was not in the mood to offer excuses but is confident they will recover at the earliest opportunity.
He said: “We’ll take responsibility for the performance as a team. It’s days like this you need to stick together. We need to bounce back from this, we’ve done it before and I’m sure we’ll do it again.
“Frustration crept in and there was a lack of confidence and it culminated with everything going wrong.
“We’ve got to be better at breaking teams down, but fair play to them. I thought they were brilliant and did a job on us.
“It’s a very disappointing result. We do have to have a look at ourselves, individually and collectively and do need to stick together.
“We didn’t do enough all over the pitch which is why we lost.”