At our AGM, reserve coach Willie Gibson provided an update on the reserve side and the programme that the club runs. Here’s an idea of what he had to say.
“The benefit of the programme that we run is that the boys get the chance to further their education while pursuing a career as a professional footballer. The boys attend the local college two or three days a week where they have the option to study for an HNC in sports and fitness or an HNC in sports coaching. Both courses are the equivalent to achieving three highers and gives them a backup option for the future”.
“Two former players, Owen Bell and Bailey White went through the process and although they are no longer players with the club they manage the day to day running of our Lochmaben Community Centre facilities and the Academy at KGV. So they are proof that the programme works and has value. The current reserve players are also using their knowledge gained through learning to good use with gym inductions at KGV and taking coaching at our Wednesday clubs and football camps throughout the year”.
“On the playing side of things, I am aware that the club needs players to come through the youth system to first team level and that’s not been happening enough lately. However, I have seen a lot of progress since I have taken up the role and I will continue to work hard to find and produce more local players”.
Willie took over the role at the end of last year following the departure of Eddie Warwick and quickly used his experience as a professional footballer to look at ways of improving the youth and reserve set up.
“When I came in I spoke to the Chairman about trying to make it a bit more professional at reserve level to give them the best chance of making it into the first team setup. One thing I was keen to introduce was the PLAYERTEK system. The information would allow me to compare results of the reserve players to the first team and it would give me an idea of what they need to do to get up to the same level. It would identify individual weaknesses, where they dip in performance or fitness and we can then make the tweaks and work on the specific things. It also gives the players an indication what they need to do to be able to perform at first team level. I am pleased to say along with Dan Armstrong, I was able to source the funding for it”.
The reserve side are without a game this week but the coach believes having a second team is important.
“The benefit of reserve football is that it gives the young players a taste of a more demanding level of the game and can also be used to give those from the first team the chance to build up their match fitness when they are returning from injury or haven’t been playing regular first team football. When the senior players have been involved in reserve matches they have set the bar for the younger players in terms of attitude and professionalism. It gives the boys a boost and they gain a lot from playing alongside them. Allan Johnston comes to all the games so it shows the young players that he is invested in them as well”.
Recent performances and results have been pleasing for Willie “I am really pleased with the last couple of performances which has seen us pick up a couple of good results. A 4 – 2 win against Motherwell was a great result, we played very well for long spells and controlled the game until we lost our shape with a few injuries in the last ten/ fifteen minutes. It was good not only to create a lot of chances but to take them and score four. I was delighted for young Jack Hamilton who scored a hat-trick and for Callum Semple who scored the other”.
“We followed that up with a three all draw against Hamilton. We fielded a mixture of reserve and first team boys for the game as the manager felt it was important some players got some game time. They played for 45 minutes so that it wouldn’t affect their training schedule during the week. We scored three very good goals thanks to Gary Oliver and a Tommy Goss double but we were disappointed in the manner we conceded three. But on reflection, a point on the road against a team at the top of the league was an encouraging result. Tommy has been giving a chance due to being a standout performer and goal scorer at South of Scotland league side, Abbey Vale. He’s been brilliant since he’s came in, not only is he a good player but he’s got a very good attitude and work ethic”.