Four first half goals coming from Reece Holden, Ethan Laidlaw and Jackson Innes put the U18s in a comfortable position heading in to the second 45, where they continued to dominate proceedings. Josh Landers added a fifth just past the hour mark and killed off any chance of a St. Mirren comeback.
U18s Head Coach Gareth Evans was thrilled with his side’s performance and was full of praise for the Wee Hibees after the match.
Speaking to hibernianfc.co.uk, Evans said:
“I thought we were excellent in the first half. In the second half we could have been a little bit better and put more pressure on the ball, but I’m delighted with the first half performance and there were a few good individual performances in there as well.”
The U18s endured an incredibly successful season last year and Gareth is hoping to build a strong core within the side for the coming seasons.
“We are building this year. We have a really young team so it’s nice to play well and get a result, but the most important thing is that they get an experience of playing football at this level. Hopefully come next year, when a lot of them will still be eligible to play for the U18s, they have the experience to help them move forward in their careers.”
2007-born, Josh Landers, has recently been called up to the Scotland U16s squad and was a standout performer throughout the 90 minutes on Friday evening.
Gareth believes playing at such a high level will allow Josh to develop and become a regular within the Scotland U16 squad.
“Josh is playing regularly now in U18s football with a 2007 birthday, which means he has another three years at this level.
“We try and promote players as early as we can to play at the best level that they can and hopefully that has helped Josh get into the Scotland squad and this experience does help him when he goes away with the national team.”
