Steve Kean has hailed the SPFL Trust Trophy experience gained by his young Hibs starlets after they were defeated on penalties to Highland League side Brechin City.
The Easter Road youngsters drew 1-1 with the former Scottish League Two side before losing out on spot-kicks 4-1. Despite being eliminated, Kean has hailed the 'big positive' of mixing it against ex-pros and competitive players who have played at a very high level in the game instead of the usual academy football and the same opponents.
He reckons the experience will show his Hibs young guns exactly how senior sides manage games and also pick up on all the tricks of the trade. Games at this level will give his players a much closer experience to playing in a first-team environment and he has heaped praise on his young men.
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Speaking to Hibs' official website, he said: “I think they probably had the best of the first half. We didn’t have a lot of penetration and we didn’t really have a lot of goalscoring opportunities.
“I think we got better, and we certainly were well worthy of taking it to penalties. I thought the last 20 minutes where we changed it to 4-3-3, we had more opportunity and more edge to our game.
“The big positive is, you’re playing against a team of ex-pros, competitive players who have played at a very high level. It's not academy football. We’re not playing against the same players.
“This is now really the graduation of last year’s under-18s, that are on the pitch at the end of the game against men who want to win and men that are getting paid.
“So, it’s a different side to the game. You're seeing how a senior side game manages and knows all the tricks of the trade but also knows how to look after themselves and I think that is a great part of playing games like this where we are taking the boys closer to what they’re going to experience when in the First Team.”
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