“It is a good opportunity, a good experience for myself.”

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Youth Phase manager Stuart Duff, with the former Dons midfielder filling Barry Robson’s shoes in the Under 18s head coach position while the latter takes charge of the first team. Duff managed to find the time to reflect on a successful first few weeks at the helm which has seen important victories in the Club Academy Scotland U18 League against Hamilton Accies, Celtic and Motherwell – continuing the excellent work Barry and Scott Anderson have done.

“Barry has made the step up to manage the first team, I think he’s in that place and his development as a coach, where he’s ready for that next stage. Barry stepping up has opened an opportunity with the under eighteens, for myself and Robbie Hedderman to go in take that group. We’re benefiting from a squad that’s had the stewardship of Barry and Scott, so it’s been really quite simple to take that over. They are extremely well drilled and very fit. Barry and Scott have done such a good job with this squad. It is a good opportunity, a good experience for myself because obviously further down the line that’s an area which I would like to work full time in. It is unfortunate circumstances, but at the same time, it’s a very good group to then go and work with.

“The leadership team had to be thrown together quite quickly. Robbie’s coming from a coaching background as well, he was at Aberdeen when he was a bit younger. He’s got vast knowledge of the youth academy and how it’s structured, as well as the standards and morals that we want to implement in the kids. He’s got a lot of understanding, so for me it’s working quite well. He’s got his strengths, and I’ve got my strengths. Hopefully, together we can help nurture the guys until we know what’s happening, but we will just keep enjoying it, try to develop the players as much as possible between now and whenever we find out what’s happening.

“At any level of football, defending is so important. We based our whole weekly plan on our defensive structure, so we could be hard to beat. Nobody is ever questioning us as a squad going forward because we’re always creating opportunities, it’s always high scoring. Unfortunately in our first game against Hearts, we didn’t get the winner that day, but I think the guys took a lot of confidence from getting a clean sheet and have taken that into the other games.

“To follow that up with the away win against Hamilton in the league, that’s the standard we’re looking for; Plenty goals going forward, as well as another clean sheet for back-to-back shutouts, which just shows the hard work that we’ve been putting in has been paying off. We want to be fast and exciting going forward but the most pleasing thing for me is seeing the guys celebrating making a block for a corner or a throw in, that kind of thing. There is real camaraderie between the goalkeeper, the back four and the midfield, so that’s pleasing to see.

On only his second start for the Under 18’s young Lewis Pirie claimed a sensational hat-trick in North Lanarkshire against Hamilton Academical.

“I think looking at the bench over the last couple of weeks, there’s been a few names that probably haven’t been on there before, guys like Fletcher Boyd and Jamie Mercer, so it’s good for them to start getting that experience. As for Lewis, I know the talent that he’s got.  I’m his 16’s coach, so I know his best attributes. He’s by no means the finished article, but he can certainty play at this level. I’ve trusted him, I’ve spoken to him, and I think on that night against Hamilton he showed exactly what he can do. Given the right information, his natural ability will take over.

“There’s a really good dynamic in the dressing room, I have worked with a few of the boys before but one thing I’ve noticed is how good the togetherness in the team is. Looking back on the Hearts match it now seems to me like it was a case of two points dropped after I have seen what the boys can do. I think it was a bit of a transitional game, after Barry and Scott moved up to the first team. There is certainly lots of technical and tactical ability in the team that I need to keep trying to draw out. You start to find out every game in the 18’s league is a tough game. We have another tough game against Dundee United this Friday. Every team has good players, and you often find they tend to bring in their better players to play Aberdeen which you must take as a compliment. For every match we will prepare in a way that we think will get the best outcome as it isn’t solely about results in this league, it’s about developing the guys. It’s great winning every week but the team still needs to learn.

“The idea of having a strong finish in the league run in seems to be coming to my attention more and more but in all honesty I would rather there is a bit of momentum, and the guys are winning in a good manner and dominating games. If they do that then results will come and they will find success after those results. It is a one game at a time mentality as you don’t know how long you have with the team, so my job for now is to keep them at peak physical and mental condition and keep the team moving.”