Livingston Youth Cup goal hero Kyle Jacobs eyes Gers revenge

Feb 18 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

KYLE JACOBS scored the goal which earned Livingston a semi-final berth in the Youth Cup and immediately turned his attention to a Rangers reunion — but not until the final.

The Livi teen powered home a header to send holders Hibs spinning out leaving the Lions in the hunt for the prized silverware.

And Jacobs, who was with Rangers for four years as a youngster, would love nothing more than the chance to gun down his former club and take the trophy back to West Lothian.

Speaking before the semi-final draw which paired Livi with Celtic, Jacobs admitted: “I don’t mind who we get in the semi-final but I would love to get through that and then play Rangers in the final.

“I was at the club from the ages of 11 to 15 and I know most of the guys who are in the team at the moment.

“So it would be nice to play against them and also beat them with Livingston.”

Hibs are just the latest in a long line of scalps for Livi this season.

Before meeting the capital side their two previous matches in the Youth Cup had yielded 15 goals.

And just last week the rampant Lions fired 14 without reply past Ayr United on league duty.

“We aren’t used to losing with the under 19s and we win comfortably most weeks,” continued Jacobs.

“Even when we go a goal down we expect to come back and win.

“We won 14-0 just last week with most of the goals coming from the midfielders which was also a bonus.

“So we were pretty confident before the Hibs game.

“The team played well and we know we are a good team so we believed we could beat Hibs.

“Brian Welsh has been doing a lot with us as well and he got his tactics on the day spot-on.

“It was a good game and I was delighted to have scored the winner although I felt I should have had another goal after I put it in the net but the ref disallowed it.”

It has been a season to remember at senior level for Jacobs who has burst through to make his top-team debut.

Since then he has made a handful of starts and substitute appearances before falling down the pecking order last month following the arrival of veterans Stevie Tosh and Jim Hamilton.

But far from being disillusioned Jacobs reckons he can learn from just watching the likes of Tosh in training every day.

He added: “Although it is disappointing not to be in the first-team squads recently it has been great to be able to watch a guy like Tosh and hopefully try and learn from him.

“It has been a terrific year for me so far and it’s been great to have had so many chances with the first-team.”