BEN RAMAGE
Allan McManus insists it wasn’t a surprise to see his young side still challenging Rangers and Celtic for the Under-18 league title on the final day of the season.
After a superb campaign the St Mirren Academy director saw his talented crop of prospects face the Ibrox side knowing a win by a two- goal margin would secure them the Club Academy Scotland Elite Under-18 trophy.
While they ultimately lost out 3-1 to the eventual league champions Rangers, McManus was delighted with the effort put in by the players and staff over what was an incredibly arduous, shortened season.
And he believes the experience they garnered will stand them in great stead as the youngsters look to progress through to the senior side in the coming years.
Speaking exclusively to Express Sport, McManus said: “At the start of the campaign, we felt that we could win that league based on the qualities we had in the squad.
“We set the standard high. Sometimes our own bias might come in to our targets, but we knew we had a group that was more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country and so we proved.
“Unfortunately we were without three key players going into the Rangers game. We without our main goalkeeper, centre- back and centre midfielder who, without being disrespectful to those who came in, would always have started the game.
“We shot ourselves in the foot with some sloppy goals, and it was a bit of a damp squib to end the season on.
“But we can’t forget or fault the amount of effort we all put in, players and staff. It was a shortened campaign so they were playing two games a week for two and a half months. It was relentless.
“It was so tough, but I’m so proud of the boys’ efforts and they were a total credit to the club. The discipline of the group has been exceptional.
“It’s been a great learning experience for them all. For them to have the opportunity to play for a league medal and for European qualification at a high intensity, and at such a young age, can only be a good thing.
“If you want to play at the top level, you’ve got to come through that pressure and learn from it.”
The young Buddies will dust themselves down and go again next season, with McManus adamant they’ll be aiming to go one better next time around.
He believes it’s important the club keeps striving to improve, from the academy right through to the first team.
McManus said: “At the end of the day we took the title race right to the last game of the season and it was still in our own hands.
“Yes Rangers and Celtic have much bigger budgets and bigger infrastructures, but we look at them as aspirations as an academy and a football club.
“We’re very fortunate to have a very strong staff, including guys like our head of medicine David Hartley who has worked incredibly hard to keep everyone as safe as possible during the pandemic.
“Our target is to be one of the best academies in Scotland and we will judge that by results on the pitch.
“It was a remarkable season with some excellent results and we’ll always aim to compete with the bigger clubs.
“We don’t see it as punching above our weight. We just want to keep improving and we will keep doing everything we can to achieve that.”
Jemma Reekie’s incredible form in the 800m continued after she bagged yet another impressive win over the distance.
The Kilbarchan AAC star went sub two minutes once again at the PTS meeting in Slovakia with her time of 1:59.60 taking her well clear of the rest of the field with Italian Elena Bello second in 2:01.32.
The victory took her run of recent results in the 800m to an emphatic nine wins in her last 11 outings, dating back to the start of the 2020 season.
Reekie is all but certain to be added to the Team GB athletics roster ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, which start next month, having hit the Olympic qualification time on several occasions this year.
Last month Reekie beat training partner and friend Laura Muir in the 800m at the USATF Golden Games in California on the Continental World Tour producing a stunning new outdoor PB of 1:58.27.
Kilbarchan AAC teammate Callum Hawkins has already been preselected for Team GB for the Tokyo Games with the long distance specialist set to compete in the marathon for the second time.
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