St Johnstone’s stars of the future did themselves proud – and went unbeaten against the might of Manchester United.
The respective youth academies carried on a fixture that has become familiar through the years and this time faced off at McDiarmid Park over two hour-long games on Sunday.
And in game one, the Saints earned themselves a memorable 2-0 victory in front of a delighted home crowd in the sunshine.
Liam Parker had nodded in the opener – and head of the academy Alistair Stevenson noted the big defender was claiming the second too, although Bayley Klimionek, who swung in the free-kick, may disagree.
In game two, an entertaining and enthralling encounter finished 3-3 with Jackson Mylchreest netting a brace and Fran Franczak the late equaliser.
A delighted Stevenson said: “You are just hoping that you put in a performance, give a good account of yourself and make it a spectacle. I didn’t even have a thought about what the scores might be.
“In that first game, I thought we played so well. The boys were so confident, relaxed and enjoyed it.
“And the second game was end-to-end. We had been ahead, level, down and then came back at the end. It made it all quite exciting.”
Such was the success of the fixture, Saints have been invited south for the reverse.
“Manchester United said it was a really good standard of game and they were absolutely over the moon,” Stevenson said. “I got a message on Tuesday saying thanks for everything – the hospitality and level of competition.
“There was possibly a crowd of 650 in and that meant the kiosks were busy too. So we did well.
“And there was a great response with donations from the fans. They were very generous, which is much appreciated.”
Stevenson continued: “We have been given an invite back down to Manchester. That is something you probably don’t get very often. We can go to Old Trafford for a tour and then over to Carrington to have a game. It’s nice to get an invite like that.”
Manchester United ended their visit by handing over a signed jersey from midfielder Scott McTominay.
Stevenson concluded: “They wanted to give us a token of their appreciation.”
All photos from the matches against Manchester United can be ordered through www.ppapix.com
