Hibs youngsters hailed after impressing against Blackpool in pre-season friendly

Hibs assistant coach Adam Owen hailed the impact of the Easter Road side’s academy products despite a 3-0 defeat by Blackpool in the club’s final pre-season friendly fixture.

Second-half goals from Shayne Lavery, Kenny Dougall, and Owen Dale handed the Seasiders a convincing scoreline, but they needed Marvin Ekpiteta to twice bail them out in quick succession during the first period, first challenging Elias Melkersen as he shaped to shoot inside the box and then clearing a goal-bound Dan MacKay header off the line.

Speaking afterwards, Lee Johnson’s right-hand man praised the positive impact of the Hibs kids. Four youngsters started the game – Oscar MacIntyre, Reuben McAllister, Kanayo Megwa, and Rudi Molotnikov – with Robbie Hamilton, Owen Hastie, Jacob MacIntyre, and Malek Zaid coming on as substitutes during the second 45 minutes.

“I think we had eight academy players who played. It was always going to be a game as it was purely based on the previous 48 hours – the game in Andorra, and we didn't arrive back until 5am on Friday so from that point of view it's a real positive for those lads,” Owen said.

Johnson has made no secret of his intention to work more youngsters into his first-team squad, taking Jacob MacIntyre, McAllister, Megwa, and Molotnikov on the pre-season training camp in Spain, and the quartet have shown up well in pre-season along.

"I think they did very, very well up until the last couple goals that went in after a bit of cramp and tiredness, the travel, the altitude and everything else in the mix back to Edinburgh, the travel down here yesterday so full credit to the lads that went out there and even the senior lads: I thought Jimmy Jeggo was superb in the way he captained the team and his attitude,” Owen continued.

"Obviously Jimmy played on Thursday, as did Melks and Dan MacKay but I thought the kids were super. We were really impressed with them and I think it's a big plus in what the manager is trying to do in terms of trying to integrate that academy and the evolution into the first team over a period of time."