Paul Sheerin Post Match

Paul Sheerin saw his side this evening beat Celtic to remain top of the SPFL Development League. So far this season the young Dons in the league have beaten Hibs, Motherwell, Rangers, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone, St Mirren and drawn with Inverness CT in a game they probably should have won. They definitely should have won last week against Dundee United but ended up on the end of a 5-4 defeat.

After last week’s disappointment Paul told RedTV he was happy with the response from his young players tonight.

“It was a good win and a good performance again. Obviously last week there were question marks over us defensively as a team but this week we were back doing what we are good at. We worked hard for the win.

“There was a spell at the start of the second half when we gave away possession too easily and invited pressure and good teams will punish you for that. That is what Celtic did but once we got a grip of it again for the last half hour we looked the more likely to create chances and we did that. We had four or five good chances towards the end of the game.

“We then see the game out which was a big positive. That is something we have not done well this season, particularly last week. Against Dundee United we were 4-3 ahead with five minutes to go and lost 5-4 so we asked the question of them – can we see out games?

“I thought we saw out the game well towards the end.

“We have also at times scored goals then conceded shortly afterwards. We made sure this did not happen tonight.

“We tried to play a pressing game. It was something we spoke to the players about beforehand. We wanted to make them kick it (long) because we know the quality they have and if they get it down and start passing they would cause us problems. Which they did for a short period at the start of the second half.

“Once we got to grips with them again we did press them high and kept them in (their own half).

“The first goal came from Daniel Harvie playing a decent enough ball over the top into an area which puts centre half’s onto the back foot and it showed with the error.

“Daniel came into the side tonight and played at left back. He has been playing a lot of football at U17 level and has been doing really well so we wanted to test him to see how he would do. At first you could see he has been playing at a lower level with the greatest of respect and he was slightly slow in possession but as soon as he picked up the pace of the game I thought he was very good. Jamie Henry also did very well when he came on. It was very encouraging to see two young players doing so well. Jamie has a great attitude towards the game. He came on and helped shore the team up a bit at a crucial time.

“Nicky (Low) then scored a great goal. He has got that in his locker. I actually thought he was going to do it again right at the death but he decided to keep hold of the ball instead and take it into the corner. His goal however was worthy of winning any football match.

“There will be high points and low points. That is part of working with young players. It is all about encouraging them as they learn the game.

“I just hope there is more positive moments than negative ones and we will be ok!”