Carl Tremarco has urged Ross County’s under-18s to show they can mix it against senior opponents in the North of Scotland Cup.
County face Golspie Sutherland at King George V Park tonight, in the quarter-finals of the competition.
The Staggies defeated Wick Academy 8-0 in the previous round, with the side boosted by a number of Malky Mackay’s first team squad who were in need of game time.
County are competing in the tournament for the first time since winning it in 2018, courtesy of a final victory over Caley Thistle.
Tremarco, who is now in charge of County’s under-18s, feels the experience will be fruitful for the club’s young players.
He said: “Even though it’s technically a first team fixture, it will predominantly be under-18s.
“This type of fixture benefits them and gives them a taste of playing against men.
“I understand from a first team perspective the manager wants certain players to get games, so I’m still waiting to hear who can play.
“It can only benefit the under-18s.
“It’s good from a coach’s perspective, especially at academy level, as I will see there are certain boys who I would have no problem with stepping up, and maybe some that are not quite ready yet.
“That’s just the nature of football. Not everyone can make the first team level.
“It’s great we are back in it this year.”
Learning curve for young Staggies
Tremarco insists he will drive high standards from County’s youngsters against their North Caledonian League opponents.
Tremarco added: “The boys are learning on the job.
“After the Wick game I told them: ‘just because you walked away with an 8-0 win, don’t think you are all really good.’
“I could see things that, had it been a full under-18s squad, we would have been punished for, and we can’t forget they had a man sent off after three minutes.
“There are always loads of things you can pick up on, with the positives and negatives you can take.
“You can’t keep telling people how good they are when there are actual negatives there.
“That’s part of coaching I suppose.”
First team players a strong influence
Among those who featured in County’s triumph at Harmsworth Park were Ben Purrington, Alex Samuel and Jay Henderson.
Tremarco is confident first team players will be a helpful influence on the side if they are involved again this time around.
He added: “It’s great for them to be involved with the first team boys, because at the end of the day they want to be where they are.
“I said that to the first team boys before the Wick game.
“I made out to them that they needed to put the effort in like the under-18s would. Every time they are involved with first team players, they give their all.
“Some boys might not want to be up at Wick on a Wednesday night at 8pm, I get that.
“But they owe it to the young boys to help them out, just like they have helped them out in friendlies to fill in numbers.
“To be fair they were brilliant, their effort and commitment was not an issue.”
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