Jim Goodwin has lauded the bravado of Brandon Forbes after the teenager slammed home a breathtaking winner for Dundee United against Ayr United.
Forbes, 18, replaced Kristijan Trapanovski in the second period with the contest evenly balanced following excellent strikes by David Babunski and Marco Rus.
And just four minutes into his professional debut, the fearless forward produced a sublime free-kick from all of 30 yards, with his dipping drive crashing off the underside of the bar and crossing the line.
As well as hailing the technique of the “unbelievable” effort, Goodwin was bowled over by the self-belief of the rookie.
“I wanted to get Brandon on the park because he’s had a great pre-season,” explained Goodwin. “He’s very positive, direct in possession and has the capability to cut inside and get shots away into the bottom corner.
“Tonight’s goal was a bit different!
“It was brilliant technique. To have the confidence and self-belief to go on and tell the senior players, “I’m taking this!” That’s great. More often than not, Louis Moult would take that, and Will Ferry wanted to hit it.
“So, I’m delighted he had the confidence to take it on, and the strike was unbelievable.”
Babunski off the mark
While Forbes’ wonder-goal will hog the headlines, new arrival Bubanski also got off the mark for the Tangerines with a tantalising wide free-kick that evaded everyone and nestled in the top-corner.
“You ask him to whip it towards that back post and we’ve seen it numerous times; that sort of ball finds a way in,” added Goodwin.
“He’ll probably admit himself that he was trying to hit one of the boys attacking it. But credit to David for having the quality to put it in that area.”
The result takes United level on points with Falkirk at the summit of Premier Sports Cup Group B ahead of their final game of the section against Buckie Thistle on Tuesday night.
Ryan Strain update
Meanwhile, Goodwin stated that Ryan Strain suffered a “significant” hamstring tear during United’s win over Stenhousemuir in midweek, but confirmed that it will not require surgery.
“It’s not a short-term injury and could be a number of weeks, but we do need to wait and see how much progress is made over the next two to three weeks,” added Goodwin.
“It doesn’t need surgery at the moment, that’s the information we are getting from the specialist. But it is a significant tear in the muscle.”
Asked whether Strain’s injury could force the club to consider reinforcements in that area, Goodwin added: “We’ll have those discussions off the back of the information we now have on Ryan. But It’s not a bottomless pit.
“We just need to see what options are out there and, if there is someone we think can come in and is better than what we have, then we would look to do something about it.”
