NEILSTON co-manager Chris Cameron is tipping his young stars to shine brightly next season.

The Farmer’s Boys have secured the services of most of last season’s squad ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

And Cameron is expecting the current crop of youngsters at Brig O’Lea to have an important role to play.

He told Barrhead Sport: “We’ve got four or five young lads who have come into the group and into the starting eleven and they’ll stay there, as long as they continue to perform.

“We were really keen to tie all the young boys down and look to the future as well.”

Neilston won all eight of the matches they played in Conference B of the new West of Scotland Football League last season before it was brought to a premature end as a result of the ongoing Covid pandemic.

No promotion was on offer, with a number of clubs deciding against taking part in the campaign.

However, Cameron was delighted with the way his players performed, especially the youngsters who had made the step up to the senior squad for the first time.

And the former midfielder said that, along with co-boss Derek Carson, he is keen to see them continue their progress once the new season kicks off.

“We were delighted with the squad we put together last season,” he added.

“Our plan was always to keep as many of that group together as possible and add one or two.

“We’ve lost a couple of lads who were looking for more game time, which is fair, and we’ll look to replace them.”

Neilston revealed their pre-season plans earlier this week, which include an eagerly-awaited double-header with Barrhead rivals Arthurlie, as well as a fixture against the club’s development side.

Cameron admits he will be watching closely to see if any of those starlets have what it takes to make the jump to senior football.

He said: “We are probably going to run with slightly less numbers this year but with better quality, so we’ll look at calling on those lads every other week to come into the frame.

“If they are good enough and playing well, I’ve got no problem in putting them in ahead of boys who you would say are first team players.

“The lads at our club know that we’ve got a squad of 35 players now and it’s not just the 17 or 18 around the first team.”