Kilbride Thistle AFC have launched a new Sunday league team with the aim of developing more young players in the area.

The club will continue to run its Saturday team along with the new venture thus giving more opportunities for youngsters to get match time.

Manager Sean Kenney said: “We have always played on a Saturday and we are now starting a Sunday team this season.

“It’s a very busy time at the club. When we first went into lockdown it was a case of you can feel sorry for yourself or try and make it a positive.

“We looked at ways to bring in the best youth players and to give them the opportunity to train with our Saturday team and they are guaranteed 90 minutes on a Sunday.

“Too many teams sign young players and don’t play them and just use them as a number and we don’t want to do that so we want to ensure that they are playing matches.

“We want young players with a good attitude as that will stand us in good stead going forward.

“A lot of teams can be short sighted and when a team starts to age they realise they don’t have youngsters coming through so it’s a big thing to bring through youth players which is what we want to do.”

Despite the excitement off the park, the club’s preparations have been hampered on the pitch due to COVID-19 following a suspension of training due to rule breaches from Scottish Premiership sides Aberdeen and Celtic.

Kenney said: “The stoppage was due to professional players and amateur and junior sides have taken the brunt of that so for the authorities to stop our training in my opinion was poor.

“Our first friendly will be next month and the league starts in October.

“We are really excited, this is a great time at the club and we are looking forward to the future. New players new coaches and cannot wait to get started.”