Houston expecting young guns to fire

Dundee United chief Peter Houston will continue to find room for emerging talent despite his club winning the Scottish Cup last season.

Competitive debuts were achieved by the likes of Ryan Dow, Craig Hill, Dale Hilson and Ross Smith last term and Houston is hoping for more of the same this time around.

The Arabs boss also believes the next twelve months will be important in the continuing development of Johnny Russell.

“Dow put in an outstanding performance against Rangers towards the end of last season and Hill acquitted himself well when we asked him to mark Kris Boyd in the same game,” Houston told the Evening Telegraph.

“Hilson came on in a couple of games and laid on a goal in one of them, and Smith did a good job for us at St Mirren, so they`ve all had a taste.

“Now I am looking for them to kick on from that and be involved more next season, because I know they have the ability,” he continued.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old striking prospect Russell is unlikely to be sent out on loan again after promising spells at Forfar Athletic and Raith Rovers over the past couple of years.

“It`s not 100%, but my thoughts are to have Johnny here challenging for a place, because he`s another one who`s shown he has the talent,” Houston added.

“His problem is going to be the number of good strikers we have battling for places in the team and, all being well, we`ll also have Fran Sandaza back.”