U19s v Falkirk

[Swifty Frisko]

Futbol 24 says it is still 0-0 after 60 minutes.

 

Anybody got any detailed updates?

[Clerry Jambo]

1 - 0 Jambos

 

http://www.flashscores.co.uk/

[Ogi fae Gorgie]

FT 1-0 Jambos

[Hearts of Vladland]

Waiting on a FF match report.

[Footballfirst]

Good win for the youngsters against the "league leaders". Not a particularly exciting game with few chances but Hearts had the best of the them and took the win with a penalty from Scott Robinson

 

Team

J Hamilton

McGowan Balatoni C Hamilton Deland

Holt Thomson Robinson Woods (D Smith)

G Smith (Mullen) Petkus (Morton)

 

Hearts had the best of the first half with one decent effort early on from Holt that was fingertipped away by the Falkirk keeper. Robinson had started up front, but was soon swapped with G Smith who started in midfield. A couple of half chances fell the way of Woods and Petkus but with nothing really troubling the keeper. Hamilton had little to do in the Hearts goal either. Petkus made some excellent runs, but was either eased of the ball too easily or went down easily looking for free kicks. He was subbed after 40mins.

 

The second half started in similar fashion with Hearts on top. McGowan's glaring miss from a close in header after a corner had me thinking that I was watching Obua for a moment. The game deteriorated in the last quarter and got a little tetchy which the ref didn't help with his officious manner (a bit like Brines) and there were several yellow cards.

 

Balatoni went up front when Mullen came on at RB and that proved to be the masterstoke, as it was he who broke down the right and his cross was needlessly handled by the Falkirk CB when the ball bounced just in front of him. Robinson made a expert job of the penalty sending the keeper the wrong way.

 

Falkirk then had their best spell as they pushed for an equaliser but Hearts held out for the win.

 

Best for Hearts were Woods (until he started getting careless and got subbed), McGowan at RB and I thought Morton had his best game for a while. I can't recall Jack Hamilton making a save of note, but he has an annoying habit of calling for crosses that he doesn't get near.

 

Normal keeper Dean Lyness pulled out feeling unwell during the warm up.

[Hearts of Vladland]

Good win for the youngsters against the "league leaders". Not a particularly exciting game with few chances but Hearts had the best of the them and took the win with a penalty from Scott Robinson

 

Team

J Hamilton

McGowan Balatoni C Hamilton Deland

Holt Thomson Robinson Woods (D Smith)

G Smith (Mullen) Petkus (Morton)

 

Hearts had the best of the first half with one decent effort early on from Holt that was fingertipped away by the Falkirk keeper. Robinson had started up front, but was soon swapped with G Smith who started in midfield. A couple of half chances fell the way of Woods and Petkus but with nothing really troubling the keeper. Hamilton had little to do in the Hearts goal either. Petkus made some excellent runs, but was either eased of the ball too easily or went down easily looking for free kicks. He was subbed after 40mins.

 

The second half started in similar fashion with Hearts on top. McGowan's glaring miss from a close in header after a corner had me thinking that I was watching Obua for a moment. The game deteriorated in the last quarter and got a little tetchy which the ref didn't help with his officious manner (a bit like Brines) and there were several yellow cards.

 

Balatoni went up front when Mullen came on at RB and that proved to be the masterstoke, as it was he who broke down the right and his cross was needlessly handled by the Falkirk CB when the ball bounced just in front of him. Robinson made a expert job of the penalty sending the keeper the wrong way.

 

Falkirk then had their best spell as they pushed for an equaliser but Hearts held out for the win.

 

Best for Hearts were Woods (until he started getting careless and got subbed), McGowan at RB and I thought Morton had his best game for a while. I can't recall Jack Hamilton making a save of note, but he has an annoying habit of calling for crosses that he doesn't get near.

 

Normal keeper Dean Lyness pulled out feeling unwell during the warm up.

 

Thanks.

[Charlie-Brown]

Cheers for the report FF - how did the midfield of Holt, D.Thomsn, Robinson & Woods play together?

[Footballfirst]

Cheers for the report FF - how did the midfield of Holt, D.Thomsn, Robinson & Woods play together?

I think that Darren Murray is getting closer to our best option with that four.

 

Danny Thomson started brightly but faded a bit in the 2nd half after taking a knock on his right knee (looked a bit worrying for a moment).

 

Robinson did very little when up front at the start but got better in MF as the game went on and provided good support to Deland and Dave Smith down the left in the last half hour.

 

Woods was solid throughout and put it some good challenges. I'm not sure if he was going to be subbed anyway but I don't think that DM was impressed after he lost posssession twice in quick succession trying to be clever immediately before the substitution.

 

Jason Holt played well on the right side and tucked in well in support of Thomson, keeping possession well with simple passes and making forward runs when the chance arose.

 

I still think that I'd prefer Woods in a more central role in a 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 formation.

[Busby8]

Our best prospect was sitting on the bench. MMW !

[bighusref]

I think that Darren Murray is getting closer to our best option with that four.

 

Danny Thomson started brightly but faded a bit in the 2nd half after taking a knock on his right knee (looked a bit worrying for a moment).

 

Robinson did very little when up front at the start but got better in MF as the game went on and provided good support to Deland and Dave Smith down the left in the last half hour.

 

Woods was solid throughout and put it some good challenges. I'm not sure if he was going to be subbed anyway but I don't think that DM was impressed after he lost posssession twice in quick succession trying to be clever immediately before the substitution.

 

Jason Holt played well on the right side and tucked in well in support of Thomson, keeping possession well with simple passes and making forward runs when the chance arose.

 

I still think that I'd prefer Woods in a more central role in a 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1 formation.

 

Apologies FF, but can I ask you an off topic question?

 

Given our current inability on the park, in your opinion roughly how many of our youngsters are ready to step up or to get a run in the first team? You watch so many of our youth games you must have a rough idea on certain young players chances.

 

From the outside looking in (I have only seen the noted players a handful of times) I feel that the likes of Park, J.Stewart, Ridgers, McGowan and Novikovas could benefit our first team but would be interested to hear your views.

[Footballfirst]

Apologies FF, but can I ask you an off topic question?

 

Given our current inability on the park, in your opinion roughly how many of our youngsters are ready to step up or to get a run in the first team? You watch so many of our youth games you must have a rough idea on certain young players chances.

 

From the outside looking in (I have only seen the noted players a handful of times) I feel that the likes of Park, J.Stewart, Ridgers, McGowan and Novikovas could benefit our first team but would be interested to hear your views.

They way I would put it is that I could make a case for every individual in last season's reserve side being ready for the step up, obviously not all together, but certainly 3 or 4 could have made the step up this season in place of our "new signings" with the others introduced to the side as the season progress, either in addition to, or as replacements for the other youngsters. In three to four years, with progressive development, I would be happy with that side as our 1st team.

 

McDonald - ahead of Ridgers only because of the way he talks his defence through the game. Every bit as good as Balogh or Kello.

Ridgers - Physically looks the part - good shot stopper - lost out big time by Kello being re-signed after Csaba stated that he would be pushing for a 1st team place

C Thomson - already made the step up, but I feel that Csaba is overusing him and not just for set pieces - i.e. he should have been left out of both league cup ties to avoid the fatigue of playing 3 games a week.

Johnny Brown - Already an accomplished full back with the flexibility of playing on either flank. U19 cap. His loan to Livi will stand him in good stead should we lose players in Jan.

Ryan McGowan - Played CB last season and with Aussie U20s but I think he is a better midfielder (I don't think he is physically strong enough when playing at CB). Again his loan to Ayr will help him (albeit in a poor side)

Matty Park - I can't understand why he has not played before now, either at CB or LB. He has good pace, is excellent going forward and is a great threat at set pieces.

Temps - I'm getting a little concerned about his fitness - expectations are high because of his reserve performances last season and the promise shown on his debut v Aberdeen. When and if he is fit again and competing for a place, he won't have had a pre season's training, so realistically I don't think we should be looking for anything from him before March/April.

Johnny Stewart - Again I'm disappointed that he hasn't been given a start before now after Csaba talked him up during pre season. Good footballer and passer of the ball. I think he has been injured of late but he could easily play the Palazuelos role.

Stephen Husband - Certainly has the footballing ability of a creative midfielder, although I think his temprement / attitude can be suspect at times. I saw him play for Livi in a bounce game against Linlithgow a couple of weeks ago. He was head and shoulders above everyone on the park

Arvydas Novikovas - We still haven't had the chance to see what he can do with the limited cameo appearances. If we are blooding youngsters, I'd rather that we see them given a start than play 10mins every other game. Rated by Darren Murray as the best we have in terms of technique. Certainly worthy of a start now.

Ryan Wallace - Pace to burn, bit of an attitude problem at times. Capable of scoring exceptional goals as he did for Raith yesterday. Would be interesting to see what would happen if we went for out and out pace up front.

Gary Glen - Already been there or thereabouts

Scott Robinson - I don't think he's an out an out striker as he hasn't shown the insticts or composure that I would expect, even at U19 level. What he does have is good pace, vision and a work ethic as a forward thinking or wide midfielder. Certainly a "bench" prospect.

Gordon Smith - Has been given a couple of limited opportunities to date, but I don't think he is quite ready as yet. He has improved since the start of the season but maybe needs another year's apprenticeship.

 

Of the other current U19s I don't think that we have anyone who is ready for a step up at the moment, although there is some promise in Balatoni, D McGowan, D Thomson and Woods . It may be that we have to skip an age group to the U17s before we see some youngsters with a bigger chance of making it (Walker, D Smith, Mullen, Holt, Kane), but they are probably 3 years away.

[bighusref]

They way I would put it is that I could make a case for every individual in last season's reserve side being ready for the step up, obviously not all together, but certainly 3 or 4 could have made the step up this season in place of our "new signings" with the others introduced to the side as the season progress, either in addition to, or as replacements for the other youngsters. In three to four years, with progressive development, I would be happy with that side as our 1st team.

 

McDonald - ahead of Ridgers only because of the way he talks his defence through the game. Every bit as good as Balogh or Kello.

Ridgers - Physically looks the part - good shot stopper - lost out big time by Kello being re-signed after Csaba stated that he would be pushing for a 1st team place

C Thomson - already made the step up, but I feel that Csaba is overusing him and not just for set pieces - i.e. he should have been left out of both league cup ties to avoid the fatigue of playing 3 games a week.

Johnny Brown - Already an accomplished full back with the flexibility of playing on either flank. U19 cap. His loan to Livi will stand him in good stead should we lose players in Jan.

Ryan McGowan - Played CB last season and with Aussie U20s but I think he is a better midfielder (I don't think he is physically strong enough when playing at CB). Again his loan to Ayr will help him (albeit in a poor side)

Matty Park - I can't understand why he has not played before now, either at CB or LB. He has good pace, is excellent going forward and is a great threat at set pieces.

Temps - I'm getting a little concerned about his fitness - expectations are high because of his reserve performances last season and the promise shown on his debut v Aberdeen. When and if he is fit again and competing for a place, he won't have had a pre season's training, so realistically I don't think we should be looking for anything from him before March/April.

Johnny Stewart - Again I'm disappointed that he hasn't been given a start before now after Csaba talked him up during pre season. Good footballer and passer of the ball. I think he has been injured of late but he could easily play the Palazuelos role.

Stephen Husband - Certainly has the footballing ability of a creative midfielder, although I think his temprement / attitude can be suspect at times. I saw him play for Livi in a bounce game against Linlithgow a couple of weeks ago. He was head and shoulders above everyone on the park

Arvydas Novikovas - We still haven't had the chance to see what he can do with the limited cameo appearances. If we are blooding youngsters, I'd rather that we see them given a start than play 10mins every other game. Rated by Darren Murray as the best we have in terms of technique. Certainly worthy of a start now.

Ryan Wallace - Pace to burn, bit of an attitude problem at times. Capable of scoring exceptional goals as he did for Raith yesterday. Would be interesting to see what would happen if we went for out and out pace up front.

Gary Glen - Already been there or thereabouts

Scott Robinson - I don't think he's an out an out striker as he hasn't shown the insticts or composure that I would expect, even at U19 level. What he does have is good pace, vision and a work ethic as a forward thinking or wide midfielder. Certainly a "bench" prospect.

Gordon Smith - Has been given a couple of limited opportunities to date, but I don't think he is quite ready as yet. He has improved since the start of the season but maybe needs another year's apprenticeship.

 

Of the other current U19s I don't think that we have anyone who is ready for a step up at the moment, although there is some promise in Balatoni, D McGowan, D Thomson and Woods . It may be that we have to skip an age group to the U17s before we see some youngsters with a bigger chance of making it (Walker, D Smith, Mullen, Holt, Kane), but they are probably 3 years away.

 

Many thanks for that FF. From looking at that list, two 'keepers, three full backs, three central midfielders and six forwards (wingers and strikers). Now, we all know that the ratio of players that come through successfully from academy teams is not great, I don't see why we shouldn't be using these players and finding out if they will make it. I particularly liked Park the last time I saw the younger lads play and would like to think he will slot right in when Wallace leaves.

 

As for the last part of your post, and I am going to specifically refer to Walker, I honestly feel that if Walker looks THAT good, we could do a lot worse than try him. I recognise that he is very young player and it could be too big a step, but if he is that good I would rather try than not try.

[Footballfirst]

Many thanks for that FF. From looking at that list, two 'keepers, three full backs, three central midfielders and six forwards (wingers and strikers). Now, we all know that the ratio of players that come through successfully from academy teams is not great, I don't see why we shouldn't be using these players and finding out if they will make it. I particularly liked Park the last time I saw the younger lads play and would like to think he will slot right in when Wallace leaves.

 

As for the last part of your post, and I am going to specifically refer to Walker, I honestly feel that if Walker looks THAT good, we could do a lot worse than try him. I recognise that he is very young player and it could be too big a step, but if he is that good I would rather try than not try.

Remember the the above list came through the academy over several seasons. Three are still eligible at U19 level (C Thomson, G Smith, Robinson). Seven played U19 last season (Ridgers, Brown, Stewart, Husband, Novikovas, Wallace, Glen). Two graduated the year prior to that (McGowan and Templeton) and two (McDonald and Park) before that.

 

The average no of players to "make it" from an academy each year is only one or two. There will be some seasons that no-one will progress, but others that could see four or five make it. I think last season's group was the best we have had in the last 4 or 5 seasons (when I started watching them regularly), so I'd hope that more of them will eventually make the progression.

 

IMO Walker is a great talent, but he isn't ready yet. He excels at U17 and is just beginning to show that promise at U19. He still needs some physical development to work on his stamina and enable him to play at his best for 40 or 45 mins (depending on the age group). He has been subbed in each of the U19 games and Scotland U17 games he has started this season, that I have seen. If he continues to progress I think it will be the end of next season before he starts to push towards the 1st team. He will only have just turned 18 by then, so he has time on his hands.