Dundee United’s first team coach Gary Kirk has heaped praise on Scott Allan after his dream SPL debut at Tynecastle on Sunday and challenged him to put in that level of performance week in, week out.
The 19-year-old midfielder belied his age, taking everything in his stride during the well-earned win over Hearts.
According to Kirk, Allan’s mature display is even more worthy of mention as he has barely kicked a ball in the last couple of seasons.
“It was a great debut considering Scotty has not played a lot of football over the past two or three years,” he said.
“He had a broken leg as well as glandular fever over the course of the past year, so he’s had it pretty tough.
“To get thrown in at Tynecastle the way he did and do what he did was absolutely excellent.
“To be fair, I think he exceeded all expectations. He was willing to take the ball in any given situation at what can be a very intimidating venue.
“We all know that he’s a good football player but there were other aspects of the game he had to work on.
“He hasn’t really shown us that the tracking back, putting tackles in and getting into people’s faces until Sunday against Hearts, which was really positive.
“I think he knows now that’s what we are looking for. He has to knuckle down harder when we do not have the ball. But Scotty is an example to all the other young players at this club.
“It’s up to him now. We have told the youngsters that if they get a chance and take it, they will stay in the team.
“It’s not a case of coming in and then going straight back out because we do not have the size of squad to do that any more.
“It’s a big season for a lot of the kids and hopefully more of them will grasp the opportunity like Scotty,” he added.
Kirk believes United can use their Tynecastle triumph as a springboard for the rest of the season.
“It gives us a very good foundation from which to work on because it’s a really hard place to go to any time of the season.
“We need everyone fit and we need to keep them fit,” he said. “If you were to take Scott Robertson and Steve Banks off Sunday’s bench at Tynecastle, then we would be very young indeed so that made the win especially pleasing.”
United are set to send a young side to face Celtic in a bounce game today.