“I thought we were the better team.

“The first half hour was pretty even and we passed the ball about as well as we have and got our reward with the goal.

“They then had a spell that we didn’t weather well enough and we played in the wrong areas a wee bit, but once we recognised we needed to get forward more I thought we were more deserving of the win than they were.

“The young lads acquitted themselves well. We had young Hanratty, who’s a 2003 coming in and I said to him before the game to pass the ball in the defensive third and middle third and I frustrated myself because I probably nullified him a wee bit.

“Whenever he’s one on one in any area of the pitch he goes and commits people and is more of a threat. Second half I thought he was very good and Tyler (Mykta) coming in did relatively well with Connor and Max against McBearty who’s probably played 40/50 games in the lower leagues while out on loan. Connor Power at centre back was quite comfortable and I’m really pleased with them.

“It’s a decent finish, we’d have liked to have went out with a win, but performance levels were good today.

“The goal was good play with Sam Roscoe recognising where the space was with a great ball over the top to get Lloyd in and Max finished it really well.

“I think a lot of the young one’s have been pushed up a lot sooner than even we’d have liked, but because of the circumstances at the club and the injuries at first team level they then get the experience to go challenge themselves against more senior players.

“For the main they’ve stood up to that relatively well so from that point of view it’s good and allows the U16s to step up to U18s and there’s a conveyer belt for them to be challenged at a higher level as well.

“We’re not done yet as there’s still three U18s games and the U17s are in a cup final at the weekend and have done brilliant to achieve that and they play Rangers on Saturday. It would be nice for them to sign off with a win. We then go to Wick for a testimonial with a squad so we’ll look forward to it and finish with that trip.”

“We’re not done yet as there’s still three U18s games and the U17s are in a cup final at the weekend and have done brilliant to achieve that and they play Rangers on Saturday. It would be nice for them to sign off with a win. We then go to Wick for a testimonial with a squad so we’ll look forward to it and finish with that trip.”