Scott Bright: Meet the proud local lad captaining St Johnstone's talented under-18 team

dailyrecord.co.uk:

He grew up within striking distance of McDiarmid Park.And synonymous with so many local kids, some of his earliest memories in football involved learning the game at Saturday morning community coaching on the astroturf opposite the stadium.At that very same venue the other week, Scott Bright, now 16 years of age, proudly captained St Johnstone’s promising under-18 team into the semi-final of the Scottish Youth Cup.A 2-1 comeback triumph against Dundee United - the stoppage time winner came from the boot of 14-year-old Brodie Dair - was the latest success story of an exciting group whose reputation is only heading in the right direction.“Brodie is someone who definitely has quality,” left-sided full-back Bright said with a smile. “And age is not a restriction for him.“The winner was from a corner and I was actually back down the park.

But it was the quickest I had moved all game for the celebrations. Cup games are obviously special for this club, considering what happened a couple of years ago.”Bright, a former Viewlands Primary and Perth Academy student, has already been with Saints for the best part of seven years after making the switch from local youth club Pitfour.With bags of youthful energy on his side, he remembers playing for both teams to begin with!“Pitfour was on a Sunday and Saints was Saturday,” he recalled. “I would only have been about nine at that point.“A wee bit after that I was purely at Saints and have been with them for seven years now.

As each year goes on you see differences and the challenges you face become harder and harder.“That is natural because the standard gets better but I feel I have managed to keep progressing.”That progression has led him to his current role of U18s captain and, in the