5 young Ladbrokes SPFL talents who can emulate Hibs star

Eight goals in six Ladbrokes Championship games have seen Hibernian’s 21-year-old striker Jason Cummings making headlines across the land every weekend.

But there are a flurry of other young talents across the SPFL who look set to make a similarly big splash – beginning with Morton’s midfield maestro.

Jai Quitongo (Greenock Morton)

The Wishaw-born forward certainly comes from good footballing stock, with his father Jose a former St Mirren star and brother Rico on the books of Hamilton Academical. And the 19-year-old has started this season in scintillating form for Morton.

A spectacular winner against Premiership side Hamilton in the League Cup showed his ability to produce a moment of magic, but it’s the stat of five goals in ten starts which highlights his importance for Jim Duffy’s men. And that’s without even discussing his pace and versatility – equally adept at playing through the middle or out wide.

That means he looks great value to be the league’s top scorer at 40/1.

Craig McGuffie (Ayr United)

The Honest Men are finding their feet in the Ladbrokes Championship, and one man who has caught the eye is midfielder McGuffie. His five substitute appearances in the league have included a game-changing turn in the 2-1 win at Hibernian, while he’s already bagged goals in the Challenge Cup and League Cup.

His instinctive winner at Livingston in August showed the 18-year-old has bags of confidence and a knack for finding space, while his range of passing is already bamboozling the Championship’s defences.

Calum Waters (Alloa Athletic)

Big things were expected of the highly-rated former Celtic prodigy when he joined the Wasps this summer, but the left-back has somehow managed to exceed them.

Two goals and as many assists in eight games this season reflect the 20-year-old’s tremendous creativity and natural finishing, but the diminutive full-back has also helped Alloa to a whopping seven clean sheets in all competitions in this campaign.

Josh Skelly (Arbroath)

The age-old combination of youth and experience is coming good for the Red Lichties up front. Bobby Linn and Josh Skelly are separated by 11 years, but on the pitch, their understanding and interplay makes it look like they’ve played together for that long.

Having scored in four of his last six Ladbrokes League 2 outings, the 19-year-old striker is establishing himself as one of the division’s most exciting young talents, as proved by his deft finish to equalise at Clyde earlier this month.

Josh Peters (Forfar Athletic)

Just the nine goals in the last seven games for the Loons forward, who looks likely to match the feats of fellow youngster Nathan Austin, who netted 22 times for East Fife in Ladbrokes League 2 last season.

A pair of fantastic curling strikes in the 4-1 win over Stirling Albion last weekend reinforced the former Hibernian youngster’s quality. Don’t be surprised to see him playing at the highest level in Scottish football within the next few years.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing