Dundee United’s Sean Dillon is as excited as anybody about the talented prospects breaking through at Tannadice, but the defender has warned against placing too much expectation on their young shoulders.
The Irishman only turns 30 in the summer but could be forgiven for feeling old last Sunday, having lined up alongside the likes of 16-year-old John Souttar and 17-year-old Ryan Gauld against Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
But while the young contingent of United’s squad are clearly relishing the opportunities being given to them, Dillon hopes they will be allowed to mature and develop as players in their own time.
“I don’t want to take away from the two boys but I don’t want to be bigging them up too much and putting any more pressure on them than they need,” he explained.
“Soapy (Souttar) was very good again as he has been when he’s played, and to get the experience of a Scottish Cup semi-final is fantastic.
“He deserves it and good luck to him. He’s been good for us and long may that continue for him.
“The both of them, if they continue the way they are, are going to be special players. But I don’t want to make too much of them at the moment, because they’ll have enough people talking about them.
“They are both good boys with good attitudes, they work really hard in training and they listen to you. They want to learn and they are not afraid to take on board what you are saying either in training or in the games.”
Dillon’s disappointment at United’s heartbreaking 4-3 semi-final defeat to Celtic was evident after the final whistle, but the defender believes they can still take plenty of heart from their performance.
“It doesn’t matter how we play or how much work you put in, when you are beaten you don’t get to the final,” he said.
“Obviously somebody has to be beaten, but it’s a tough one to take. We believed that it was going to be our day going into the game.
“Although we got off to a bad start it was a good goal in fairness to Celtic we showed belief and character to come back. We responded in the right way and took the lead, but we didn’t hang on to it for long enough.
“That was the disappointing thing, that we conceded too quickly after we’ve taken the lead ourselves. It’s disappointing but it’s great that we put in such a good shift.”
The focus now turns to United’s final five league fixtures, starting with Motherwell on Friday, and finishing the season strongly.
After that, there will be the inevitable speculation about United’s star players and where their futures might lie. Dillon, however, is just concentrating on the run-in.
“It’s like any season the same questions come up at the end of every season and it’s been like that for the last six since I’ve been here,” he commented.
“Of course it will be interesting to see what happens in the summer. You are always going to lose players, you are always going to bring in players.
“Are they going to be as good as the ones you are losing? Are they going to be any worse?
“It’s the same stuff but the bottom line is that when you come back for pre-season you work hard again, you start over fresh and you hope that come the end of the season you’ve done enough to push for Europe and have an enjoyable season where you’ve accumulated a lot more points than you did the previous season.”