Falkirk will represent the SFL in the last but one stage of this season’s Scottish Cup and for one young Bairn, involvement at Hampden against Hibernian next month will cap his first year as a professional in tremendous style and in fact, in a better style than he had predicted.
Lewis Small has worked himself into the Falkirk first team pool and the 18-year-old is already ahead of the schedule he set himself when he turned full-time last summer.
Small said: “I have been with the club since joining their Under-13 side from Livingston where I had been for a couple of seasons. I joined the Pro-Youth system and played in the development leagues against SPL sides including Rangers and Celtic and that gave me a really good grounding.
“I am from Linlithgow and played there for a Boys Club that is now associated with the junior side Linlithgow Rose. I played two years above my age group when I was spotted by Livingston. I was there for a while but opted for Falkirk ahead of them after seeing the facilities that the club had at the University of Stirling.
Small continued: “Ross Wilson who was in charge of the Youth side of things at the club then helped sell the club to me and as well as the fantastic facilities there was a terrific standard of coaching staff there as well.”
The striker talked about his progress this season saying: “I only turned full time last June so to be in and around the first team already is fantastic. I am ahead of the targets I set myself when I became a professional. I did not think I would break into the first team so quickly let alone still be in the squad and have scored my first ever senior goal.”
“When I signed my first two year deal with the club last summer they asked me to state what my ambitions where for the two years. I have met them already with the exception of starting a game but I did not plan to do that until next season anyway.”
Small joined the Bairns as a professional at the same time as Connor McGrandles and Thomas Grant and the trio have all become regular in manager Steven Pressley’s plans with Small saying: “Thomas, Connor and I all stayed on at school for another year whereas 8 of the other boys all stepped up the year before. It is great that the three of us have all made a breakthrough at much the same time.”
“I have made 8 substitute appearances so far and I came on against Raith Rovers in midweek and played for the entire second half. That is the longest I have been on the pitch for so things are moving in the right direction especially as we were 1-0 down on Tuesday night and we were able to bring that back to 1-1 in the second minute of injury time.”
“The gaffer was been great with me and the other young players at the club. He stuck to the belief that if you are good enough you are old enough before his move to Coventry.”
The game that saw Small notch his first ever senior goal is a great example of Pressley’s approach working not one by twice.
Small said: “I made my debut at the end of September at Cowdenbeath when I came on as a substitute with just over 20 minutes left. I was not involved again until November when we played Hamilton Accies at home.”
“We were losing 1-0 and I was brought on with 15 minutes to go. Connor levelled with 8 minutes left and I popped up with the winner just as we went into injury time.”
Small added, “My goal came when Lyle Taylor told me to stand at the near post when a corner was being taken. The ball came over and eventually just landed at my feet. I had to spin round and hit the ball as hard as I could. In it went and it was a great, great feeling.”
“To score a winning goal at your home ground in injury time is a pretty good way to get off the mark.”
As well as newly departed Pressley, Small has nothing but praise for the rest of the management team at Falkirk starting with Technical Director and now interim Manager Alex Smith.
Small said: “Alex has been brilliant with us all the way through the youth programme at Falkirk. He just has so much experience in the game and that not only helped the gaffer but our coaches Stevie Crawford and Neil Macfarlane although Neil has opted to join Steven at Coventry.”
“They all said that if you work hard at training you will get a chance in the first team regardless of your age and that has been the case.”
Such has been the young striker’s progress that the Bairns recently offered and Small gladly accepted the offer of an extended contract until the summer of 2016 with the teenager saying: “I was not expecting it as I was only a few months into my present one. When it was discussed at Christmas time I was delighted to get it agreed especially as Connor and Thomas were agreeing new deals at the same time.”
“Liam Dick and Ryan McGeever also signed extended contracts recently and Craig Sibbald and Stephen Kingsley signed new ones this week so you can see that Falkirk such as the future of the team. Both the club and ourselves have a great platform to build on and it is nice to have the security of a three year deal when you are still learning the game.”
Falkirk and their young squad have a major event to look forward to next month after it was confirmed that their Scottish Cup Semi-Final tie with Hibs will take place on Saturday, April 7 with a 12.30 start and be shown live on BBC Scotland and Sky Sports.
Small is still on a high after that final four berth was booked last Saturday with a 2-1 win at Hamilton Accies as he explained: “We had been on a good run going into that game but it was still a huge win. Blair Alston’s first goal was good but his second was even better and was well worthy of winning the game.”
Jonathan Page’s reckless tackle on Lyle Taylor in the last minute that earned the Accie a red card allowed Small to play his part in the win as he explained: “Lyle was injured by that challenge and I got on in place of him. I touched the ball once but it was good to be involved.”
As for facing the Hibees, Small said: “I don’t know if I will be involved against Hibs. I am trying hard not to get ahead of myself and thinking that I will be involved. It is a huge game with live TV coverage and it would be fantastic if I was but I will get my head down and work hard and see what happens.”
“Playing in a Scottish Cup Semi-Final in my first year was not on my list of objectives but I will gladly put it down as an achievement.”
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