Penicuik Athletic to blood more youngster after Gregor Lamb excels in win against Bo'ness

Penicuik Athletic boss Tony Begg says he will continue to blood youngsters from his under-20s team because it is the way forward for the club.

Teenager Gregor Lamb made his debut from off the bench after becoming the first of their 20s side to sign a permanent deal with the first team on Saturday morning, and it was a dream start as the Cuikie ran out 3-1 winners against Bo’ness United after extra-time in the second round of the League Cup.

Birthday boy Paul Tansey gave the hosts the lead with an early header, but Premier League leaders Bo’ness hit back after half-time through a terrific Will Snowdon volley. Neither side could find a winner in 90 minutes and so the tie went to extra-time, with Craig Stevenson firing Penicuik ahead from the penalty spot as Ross Campbell was shown the red card. Striker Lumbert Kateleza added a third late on.

“It was a big win for us on the back of the Tranent game, so that’s a couple of back-to-back victories now which was pleasing,” said Begg. “It was a good game to be fair, it was a proper cup tie and I think everybody who was there really enjoyed the game, obviously we enjoyed it a wee bit more because we were on the winning side.

“We are in two cups and I think realistically those will be our best chance of silverware, but you never say never, we have 12 league games to go and we will just take it game by game. The way our season has gone, I am in no position to set any targets or say we are going to do this or that, we are just going to take each game as it comes and just hope we can get performance levels like we’ve had in our last two games.

“I know how fit our players are and how hard they worked in pre-season and at training ever Tuesday and Thursday. For part-time players the effort and commitment from every one of them, not only at training, but away from training in their own time – they all eat well and look after themselves. Their fitness was never going to be an issue on Saturday, I actually felt going into extra-time that we were looking stronger and that proved to be the case.”

Begg hailed debutant Lamb and says he will instantly be in contention for a starting place.

He continued: “Gregor Lamb has came up from the 20s and he’s immediately going to fight for a place in the starting line-up, that’s how highly I rate the young lad. It justifies the reasoning for having a 20s that we’ve been able to bring one of them up already on a permanent basis.

“It is credit to Grant Sandison [20s boss] and the rest of the coaching staff in the 20s, both on their recruitment and the way they train and play to prepare the players to make that step up. There is a couple more who aren’t far away, so we are really excited about it. The more we can do that the better it will help the club in the long term. I really pushed the club to get a 20s team because I do think it is the way ahead for us.”

Elsewhere, Tranent collapsed after taking the lead in the their SFA South Region Challenge Cup quarter-final, losing 5-1 away to Hill of Beath. Dunbar United were 2-0 winners away to Dundonald Bluebell with Zack Szemis and Dean Ballantyne on the scoresheet.