The Livingston production line of talent that has unearthed the likes of Murray Davidson, Leigh Griffiths, Robert Snodgrass and Graham Dorrans in recent years has produced another potential gem with attacking midfielder Stefan Scougall earning rave reviews for his recent displays.
The 18-year-old will face fellow First Division side Hamilton Academical this weekend for a place in The Ramsdens Cup Final and the youngster enjoys the knock-out competition as he grabbed his first senior goal in the last round over the border at Berwick Rangers.
The fact that Scougall has emerged as a new talent for the Lions is no surprise to the player as that is what he wanted to happen when he moved to the club as he explained: “This is my second season at Livingston and I had been at Dunfermline before that for a year on a part-time basis. I was with the Under-19s here last season and we were a decent side that won the SFL Youth Division and the SFL Youth League Cup.
“I came here as Livi have a great reputation for giving young players a chance and that is how things have worked out as I have started the last few games which has been great.”
Scougall made a quiet entrance to first team football 12 months ago as he explained: “I made my first team debut about a year ago in a home game against Stenhousemuir that Livingston won 4-1. It was a really big moment for me and my family and it was a big step up for me from the Under-19s to the first team. I then went back to the Under-19s to keep learning.”
This season he has found himself in familiar company as he explained: “Playing in the First Division is another step up but Mark McNulty, or ‘Sparky’ as we call him, and Ross Docherty have been involved a lot as well and that helps settle you down.
“The way we play suits me as I play on the left hand side and like running at defenders. We have Bobby Barr or Keaghan Jacobs doing that on the other wing so we are quite an attack minded team. I like to be on the ball and like creating goals, in fact creating goals for other people actually gives me more satisfaction than scoring myself - I really like doing that.”
The more established professionals at the club also play a role in developing the young players with Scougall saying: “There is a great team spirit here and guys like Liam Fox, Kenny Deuchar and Iain Russell have been a great help in telling me to keep going in games and keep trying things.”
Scougall has repaid his team-mates as he advised: “I have set up a couple of goals for them in return and that keeps them happy. I scored my first goal against Berwick in the Quarter Finals of The Ramsdens Cup and that was great but as I said, I get plenty of satisfaction from setting goals up.”
Whilst he may get more satisfaction from creating rather than finishing off, Scougall remembers his first senior goal well recalling: “I opened the scoring at Shielfield after playing passes with Iain and then shooting past their goalkeeper. That was a really special moment for me as both my Dad and Grandad were there to see it.
“Berwick were a really stuffy team and they were hard to beat. We kept going after they equalised directly from a corner and I managed to set Iain up for the winner to get us through to this weekend’s Semi-Final against Hamilton.”
Scougall is looking forward to the game as he explained: “They will be a hard team to beat especially at their place but we are feeling confident that we can get through. The last game there was a 1-1 draw where we scored a late equaliser but we know we should have won especially when they went down to nine players . I would settle for a late or early win in this one.”
Scougall does have some cup Semi-Final experience to call on as he explained: “I played in a Semi-Final last season against Celtic in the SFA Youth Cup at Parkhead. It was a really good experience and the atmosphere was fantastic especially when you consider that it was an Under-19 game but we lost that one and it would be great to make amends in this one.”
With Scotland playing their International double header this weekend, Scougall was asked if he had ever envisaged following the 'Pride of the Lions' that have gone on to wear the Dark Blue of Scotland and he said: “I am too old now for the Under-19 side and I never received any international recognition at that level. Hopefully, I can force my way into Scotland’s Under-21 side and getting through to The Ramsdens Cup Final would help me do that I am sure as it is a really high profile event.”
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