Liam Fontaine insists B team involvement in the SPFL Trust Trophy will be a huge benefit to Dundee’s young players.
The Dens Park defender stepped into the dugout alongside team-mate Cammy Kerr to take a young Dark Blues outfit in the first round of the competition.
They lost out 2-1 to League One side Peterhead but showed plenty of promise in a contest that could have gone either way.
Seventeen-year-old Callum Lamb opened the scoring before a Niah Payne double sent the Blue Toon through.
The Dundee side had a mix of senior players and youngsters with the likes of 16-year-old Jamie Richardson coming off the bench.
And Fontaine says the experience of taking on a League One side in Peterhead boasting wily campaigners like 40-year-old Derek Lyle will have done the club’s youngsters wonders.
“In academy football you don’t get the full experience of what a first team is like,” Fontaine said.
“Obviously we have players out on loan getting a taste of that.
“But players in our academy will rarely get the opportunity to test themselves against men.
The goal in question. Callum Lamb opening the scoring last night #thedee pic.twitter.com/ciZ2XhkHbF
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) August 12, 2021
“It is a big step up. That was a challenge for the younger ones but they stood up to that.
“As an exercise it was really beneficial for everyone.
“We had really positive things to take from that as a coach and as a club.”
‘The boys stepped up to the challenge’
Fontaine feels his side could have won the game had they taken their chances but was delighted to see his young charges stand up to the challenge.
With an average age of 18 in the starting XI, the Scottish Cup winner says there should be plenty of pride taken from the display.
“I thought it was a great performance,” he added.
“I said to the boys that every one of them should be proud of that performance.
“The young boys should be proud. I thought Jack Wilkie was very good playing against a very experienced striker in Derek Lyle and stood up to everything.
We had a young guy in midfield, Callum Lamb, who I hadn’t worked with before. I told him I’d take him every day of the week. He relished it.
“The boys stepped up to the challenge.
“Everyone will come away from that learning a lot and realising what it takes.”
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