Cadden happy to see fellow youngsters making their mark at Motherwell

Motherwell midfielder Chris Cadden has been delighted to see some of his Youth Cup-winning team-mates seize their chance under manager Mark McGhee.

Defenders Jack McMillan and David Ferguson helped Motherwell record a 2-0 victory over Partick Thistle last weekend and have pushed their claim to start against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, while Ross MacLean has also featured in recent weeks.

Cadden was already a first-team regular when he helped Motherwell win the SFA Youth Cup with a 5-2 victory over Hearts in May and McGhee is well along the path of integrating others from the under-20s.

The 20-year-old said: "It's been brilliant to see them because I think when they have come in, they have been absolutely brilliant. It's good because they all work hard, they have got great attitudes and they are all very good players who deserve their chance.

"The first thing I did on Saturday was go over and see Jack and Fergie and congratulated them because I thought they were tremendous and a real main point as to why we won. It's great to see them doing well.

"The most important thing to have is a winning team so when you have a winning team you can see how delighted they are and how happy they were to be on it.''

Cadden has received crucial guidance from experienced team-mates such as Keith Lasley and Steven Hammell since making the first team but he has found himself in the strange position of handing out tips to players his own age given he and Dom Thomas blazed a trail into the first team.

"Yeah, it's weird. A year ago I didn't think that was going to happen but I'll try and help them out as much as I can,'' the Scotland Under-21 international said.

"What I say to them, because I have been through it as well, is 'make sure you take your chance', and whenever they have came in they have done that.

"Obviously because I have been through it a bit more recent, I think it was January when I made my first start, I try and hand over as much advice as possible. But they are great guys, a great group of professionals so I think they have handled it very well.''