Young Scots goalkeeper, 17, grabs ASSIST and clean sheet as he gets first competitive start in crunch Championship clash

KEEPING a clean sheet on your first team debut is a big enough deal when you're a goalkeeper.

So imagine grabbing an ASSIST for yourself too?

1

That's exactly what happened in the Scottish Championship today.

Sam Murdoch, just 17 years young, was handed a surprise start for Greenock Morton today in their clash against Airdrieonians.

Murdoch, who has spent time on loan at Port Glasgow Juniors, came through the Ton's academy system.

And with boss Dougie Imrie facing a goalkeeping crisis as he had neither of Ryan Mullen or Gary Woods available due to injury.

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It meant Imrie couldn't even name a full squad, with just 17 players travelling through to the game in Lanarkshire this afternoon.

Also among those 17 players was Cameron Keay, a striker who scored four goals for Scotland Schoolboys in a single game last month, leading them to a victory over England Schoolboys.

Keay was named on the bench at the Excelsior Stadium with youth team pal Murdoch in between the sticks.

Morton took the lead on 34 minutes with Murdoch playing a key part in what was a bizarre goal.

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The young goalie lofted a high ball up the park that was misjudged by Airdrie player-boss Rhys McCabe and bounced through to Tomi Adeloye to nip in and slot the ball into the net after evading the attentions of Cade Melrose in the Diamonds' net.

Murdoch was made to work for his clean sheet though, being called into action to deny Chris Mochrie and again in added time when Lewis MacGregor had an effort saved.

Ton No.2 Andy Millen singled out Murdoch for praise after the 1-0 win.

Millen said: “Against a team that’s fighting for their lives to come here and get the win, a clean sheet, I’m really happy.

“For Sam to come in at 17 you need to be careful but he should be proud of his performance, he did everything he was asked to do.

“He handled the occasion really well. He only knew at half past one that he was playing and he deserves a lot of plaudits.”

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