Young striker Liam Harvey has enjoyed an excellent start to the new campaign.

The Youth Academy graduate, who has been involved with the club since he was 11, scored his first goal at first team level in the win over Brechin City, has been regularly involved in the matchday squad throughout the Premier Sports Cup group games, was on the bench at Celtic Park and then last week netted a first half hat-trick in the opening game of the Club Academy Scotland U18 league.

“Pre-season has gone very well, and we were able to take that into our first league game last Friday against St Mirren and come away with a really positive result.

“I came back a bit earlier than the rest of the squad because I was involved with the first team and trained with them and then went to Spain, so I’ve had to do two pre-seasons!

“It was good to be involved with the first team in the early pre-season games and my goal for the first team against Brechin was certainly something to remember. To get my first goal, it was a weight off my shoulders if I’m being honest. It gave me a lot of confidence.

“The first team boys were really good with me, gave me a lot of encouragement. Jonny Hayes in particular has been a massive help, taking me under his wing and constantly speaking to me during training and the games. He gave me a lot of advice of what positions to take, what moves to make and not to make. When a senior pro does that, it can only help you develop more.”

Liam made his senior debut for Aberdeen on May 11th this year, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 defeat against St Johnstone, and then made a second appearance a few days later.

“I made my debut for the first team against St Johnstone. In some ways the last game of the season against St Mirren, my home debut, meant to a bit more to me because it was at Pittodrie, in front of a home crowd. Having already got on in the game before, I was able to enjoy the experience a bit more.

“But for the moment I am just focussed on doing well with the 18s this season and scoring as many goals as I can. If I get a chance to be involved with the first team, then great. To travel with the team on Sunday to Celtic Park and to be part of the warm up, it’s all good experience for me at this stage of my career.”

Aberdeen U18s preparations for the new campaign included an Erasmus+ funded pre-season training camp in Portugal. This is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth, and sport in Europe.

“The training camp in Spain was difficult, and the weather definitely played a part in that. But we got a lot of really good work in.

“I then went to Portugal with the 18s for 12 days. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience despite the weather! It was ridiculously hot. I think because of the heat, Barry ramped up the training even more – it felt like it anyway! He is very big on fitness. We were one of the fittest teams in the league last season and I am sure we will be even fitter this season.

“The first two or three days were very hard work, then after that it was more technical work we were doing and looking at how we are going to play this season. The heat meant it felt like we were halfway through a game, so you had to concentrate and focus on what you were doing.

“We were also did a lot of crossing and finishing drills and I think you could see from the quality of the goals against St Mirren how much good work we did on the training pitch with Barry and Scott.

“You could see it is something the boys have been working on over the summer.

“The facilities were brilliant and the pitches excellent, really well kept, and the accommodation we were staying in was nice. We were able to spend a lot of time with each other off the pitch, although everyone in the group knows each other well.

“There were a few of the young boys from the U16s who made the trip, so it was good to get to know them a bit better, as they will be involved throughout the season, along with Brendan Hamilton who came in from Northern Ireland.

“The two games we played over there, we beat a local side 12-1 – I scored two goals in that game. We then beat Hull City U18s 4-0. That was a great performance. They were staying in the same complex and training on the same pitches and I think they underestimated us. I didn’t score but I did get an assist. Findlay Marshall, Blair McKenzie, Cammy Wilson scored and Dylan Lobban netted from the penalty spot.”

Aberdeen U18s started their Club Academy Scotland campaign at Cormack Park last week and put in an outstanding performance, winning 9-0, having been 6-0 up at half time, and by which time Liam had already scored a hat-trick.

“Coming off the back of that game against Hull, we went into the St Mirren match full of confidence and we put in another excellent performance.

“Last season I scored two on the opening day against Celtic and then it took me a while to add to my tally. So hopefully I can keep the goals coming this time. Scoring a hat-trick has certainly helped my confidence.”

As well as Liam’s two goals, there were two in the second half from his striker partner Alfie Bavidge. Although Alfie only came in as a full-time professional this season, he played with Liam for the 18s last season, until an injury broke up the promising partnership.

“We are quite similar players, have a similar style, we both like running onto things, we understand what each other wants.

If one goes short, the other one will go long. We work well together.

We had played together a little bit coming through the academy, but one of us would be up front and the other one on the wing, it was never a set two up top.”

This Friday offers a tough test for Liam, Alfie and the rest of the team, as they travel to play Celtic.

“Games against Celtic are always tough, we have had a lot of good battles against them in the past when I have come up through the academy.

“They are normally always close matches, certainly the games against them at U18 level were last season – we won 3-2 on the opening day of the season at home, they won one and we drew two, including the game on the final day of the campaign. We enjoy playing in these big games.

“We are really hoping for a very strong season, so hopefully we can come away with a positive result.”