St Mirren’s Under-18 starlets produced a spectacular eight-goal show under the gaze of first-team manager Stephen Robinson.
The young Buddies faced Caledonian Braves in the third round of the Scottish Youth Cup at the SMiSA Stadium on Monday night.
In the last round, they demolished Alloa Athletic 5-1 at home and the goal rush continued with Braves battered 8-0.
Saints opened the scoring after just six minutes thanks to a goal from Struan Thompson — son of Buddies legend Stephen.
Highly-rated 16-year-old Evan Mooney, who made his first-team debut as a substitute against Hearts at the weekend, doubled the lead in the 11th minute.
Innes Clark made it 3-0 just shy of the 15-minute mark with Theo McCormick adding a fourth goal. Saints were loving life and, just five minutes into the second half, substitute Lewis Marshall made it 5-0.
Captian Carrick McEvoy’s deflected strike saw the Saints make it six with substitute Luke Douglas bagging a late brace.
Coach Stephen McGinn was pleased the youngsters didn’t take their foot off the gas as they cruised into the next round.
“It was really good and tonight was about getting the first goal,” he told St Mirren’s media team afterwards. “We started so well by getting three goals within the first 15 minutes.
“I am pleased over the course of the game with plenty of good goals and chances created.”
Robbo was in attendance to watch the Saints stars of tomorrow in action. Recently, the Northern Irishman spoke about how vital it is for young players to take their chance — and how the club is always ready to play them.
McGinn said it was a big moment for the squad to show what they can do on the big stage.
He said: “They should be happy with what they did. It is always a pleasure to play here, with the manager coming to watch, and all they can do is take that chance.
“We don’t get to play a lot on grass pitches these days, so it is a different element that they need to get used to if they want to play first-team football here.”
McGinn also praised Mooney for stepping up to first-team action then returning to play in the youth side two days later and said: “I am really pleased with him because, emotionally, making your professional debut at 16 years old [is a lot].
“I texted him afterwards to congratulate him and was interested to see how he would react. His attitude was
spot-on in training before the Braves game and I have never seen the boy so hyper. The team were happy for him and proud of the academy.”
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