Myles Allan On Stenhousemuir Win

Berwick Rangers Under 20’s co-manager Myles Allan expressed his delight at taking three points from the away clash at Stenhousemuir on Tuesday evening, describing the performance as ‘dominant’ at times.

Ewan Herriot had to settle for a spot on the bench despite featuring regularly for the youth side this season

“Yet again, the performance was very good. We dominated for long periods of the match and I don’t think we found ourselves under any real sustained pressure throughout the match.

“We created a number of good opportunties and also missed a penalty. Had we taken one or two more of those, the slightly bigger margin of the victory would have maybe created a fairer reflection of the match.

“As it happens though, we were maybe fortunate that Stenny didn’t take full advantage of a late attack that could have quite easily resulted in an equaliser for them.”

While the late chance for the home side is not something that Allan is dwelling on, Allan does note that experiences like the let-off late on are something to be wary of for those players looking to make the step-up in to the first-team.

“I’ve mentioned that results & league positions are secondary to performances at the Development level, but I made the point to the boys after that game that if and when they step up, results do become the primary focus, and allowing chances like that could quite easily turn a game into a comfortable victory to a game that they’ve dominated but failed to put to bed.

“It’s well worth noting though that for a group of lads that have trained just once together since August, their level of performance when they come together as a team have been outstanding, especially over the last few weeks, so they deserve a lot of credit for that and it’s more something to learn from as opposed to dwell on.”

It isn’t only performances that have been impressive for the young ‘Gers side, as over the last couple of weeks they’ve returned from their Christmas break with a vengence, earning valuable points against Cowdenbeath and Raith Rovers.

One player who also featured last night was Barry Hogg, the young midfielder playing Development League football in addition to picking up experience at Dunbar United, where he is currently out on loan.

“Barry is one of a number of players who has played well over the last two or three games. His work rate is excellent and he sets high standards for himself. If he continues to play like he has been, he, along with a few others, will be giving themselves a great chance of progressing further.”

With only one more away game left this season, Allan’s duties are almost finished for the season, but the former Burntisland Shipyard boss believes that the youngsters can carry on their impressive form until the end of the season under fellow co-manager Neil Oliver.

“It looks like the Forfar game scheduled for next week has been postponed due to the first-team clash with Arbroath, but we still have six home games left this season.

“If the lads continue to perform the way they have been since the turn of the year, I’m confident the results that they desire will follow. That said and at the risk of sounding repetitive, we’ll be continuing to stress that it’s the performances which count!”