Youngsters provide cautious optimism as play-off looms
[BBC] Sunday's team selection found Craig McLeish between a rock (please, just win something before the play-off and create some momentum, score at least once) and a hard place (please, don't get injured, don't get suspended). In the end, McLeish listened to his better (play the weans! ) angels and took a pragmatic approach to a game against opponents firmly locked into seventh place and their first airport pints.
Where senior players needed minutes, they got them. Where bodies like Mikael Mandron and Killian Phillips needed some respite, they got it. Miguel Freckleton and Mark O'Hara steered the ship for a half before presumably being bundled into the proverbial cotton wool.
Marcus Fraser got an hour back in the tank, Liam Donnelly wasn't risked; so far, so sensible. What, then, did we learn from this most deceased of elastic, waterproof polymers (thank you Wikipedia)? We learned that Luke Douglas, recognised by Scotland regularly at age group level and touted as the natural successor in Paisley to Evan Mooney's "get him on the pitch, he's better than them surely" crowd moniker, might well be the real deal.
Highly familiar to the Saints interim gaffer from his journey through multiple age rungs of the academy, Douglas had made cameo appearances in recent weeks as squad depth demanded. However, Sunday offered the 16-year-old the opportunity to start a senior fixture for the first time - and, boy, did he make the most of it. The teen was denied a dream arrival on the top-flight stage by only the offside flag, a half yard of daylight and a half second's delay on Freckleton's through ball.
Despite this, the youngster showed the kind of movement, grit and bullishness in front of goal the frustratingly profligate Saints have missed for most of the league season. Reconciling the cup side that crashed in nine goals at Hampden this season with the league side that sit bottom of the goals scored standings by a full 10 is a brain-scratching task. Douglas was not alone in grabbing his opportunity and sparking some intrigue amongst the PA3 crowd.