Dundee United boss Micky Mellon has praised his “infectious” kids after their 2-2 draw with Motherwell last night.
Although they blew a two-goal lead as second-half strikes from Christopher Long and Devante Cole earned the Steelmen a point, United’s youngsters impressed at Tannadice.
Winger Logan Chalmers (21) assisted both Lawrence Shankland and fellow-fledgling Archie Meekison (19) – who notched on his full debut for the Terrors.
The Tangerines were left ruing Shankland’s missed penalty in the opening period of their final home game of the season, an opportunity won by Louis Appere.
Sixteen-year-old centre-half Kerr Smith also played the full 90 minutes as United now head into a Premiership curtain-closer at St Mirren on Sunday.
Mellon praised the “bravery” and “quality” of his young stars despite Cole’s last-minute equaliser snatching the Steelmen a share of the spoils
‘They need to be our next option for moving forward’
“Archie is a terrific little player who has trained with us most of the season – so has Kerr,” he said.
“If they’re talented, we will give them the opportunity to play.
“It was about giving them an opportunity and I loved their enthusiasm. It was infectious.
“I loved the way they took the ball and played will bravery and quality.
“He scored an unbelievable goal, little Archie, and it was also a great performance from Logan as well.
🗣 "You always want to come on and make a difference, I think I did that by getting a goal and I was absolutely buzzing. Just unfortunate we couldn't get the win."
🎥 Hear from manager Micky Mellon and Archie Meekison after tonight's 2-2 draw with Motherwell.#UnitedTogether pic.twitter.com/cZKHCbgAqu
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) May 12, 2021
“He’s of an age now where he needs to understand he needs to stand up and come into things.
“They need to be our next option for moving the team forward.
“I thought young Kerr Smith was also outstanding at the back. How good was he for a 16-year-old?
“It was a positive night but disappointing we didn’t close it out. Part of our development going forward has to be seeing those type of games out and getting the result.”
Mellon has been crying out for Chalmers all season
It was Chalmers’ first start after coming back from an ankle injury and Mellon was particularly delighted with the wide man’s impact.
He laid down the gauntlet to the Dundonian star – challenging him to step it up next term.
“I have been crying out for that kind of width all season and that kind of impact,” he added.
“Logan gives you that extra ball carrying and helps us move up the pitch.
✨ Logan Chalmers appreciation tweet ✨ pic.twitter.com/vnWcKZEwyo
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) May 12, 2021
“Logan has been injured for a big portion of the season and it was good to see him coming back but he has got to keep playing like that.
“He’s of an age now where he’s got to step up, handle that expectation and go and deliver on it every week.
“If he can do that, it gives us the opportunity to go and play like we did for large spells on Wednesday.”
Organically growing sproutlings key to United’s plans
Mellon understands the importance of the Terrors developing their own young talent – and he admits he favours the ‘organic’ approach.
“It’s important – that’s the way the club’s set up now,” he commented.
“The future of this club is trying to organically develop our young players into winning players for the first team.
“The way that the job was explained me when I first came in was: ‘Steady things and look for opportunities to try to develop young players into Dundee United first-team players’.
“We understand, though, we’ve got to get results because that will be the ask of the fanbase. They’ll be expecting us to win.
“We’ll have to be a wee bit patient because that’s where we’ll be looking to do a lot of our recruitment in the future – from inside the building.
“That’s the way the club want to see things move forward and I want to add to that.”