What Marvin Bartley said about Hibs loanee Oscar MacIntyre's Queen of the South debut

Queen of the South manager Marvin Bartley has praised on-loan Hibs defender Oscar MacIntyre for his debut performance for the Doonhamers in Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Cove Rangers.

The 18-year-old penned a season-long loan deal at Palmerston last week in the hope of getting regular senior football after a handful of substitute displays for the Easter Road side. And with fellow left-back Daniel Church ruled out of the trip to Aberdeenshire, MacIntyre was pitched straight into action and performed admirably as former Hibs midfielder Bartley led Queens to a third consecutive victory.

"I think Oscar's had enough of me already in 24 hours because of the amount of times I've been speaking to him, explaining things, and getting a lot of information into him. He's a player I've been aware of for a long time, coming through the youth ranks at Hibs,” Bartley said.

MacIntyre took up his usual left-back berth, playing alongside another former Hibs figure in Efe Ambrose, with Easter Road colleague Kyle McClelland also in the back four. Harvey Walker’s third-minute opener was doubled by Reegan Mimnaugh’s free kick in first-half injury time, with Tyler Mykyta scoring a late consolation for Cove.

Oscar MacIntyre won plaudits from Marvin Bartley for his debut performance for loan side Queen of the South. Picture: Craig Brown / SNS Group

"He made his first-team debut for Hibs at the back-end of last season and he's someone I didn't think would be available for loan; but we've managed to bring him in. I think he showed what he's about against Cove Rangers. For a young man he's up and down, he's full of energy, he listens, he's good in the air, he's aggressive, and he's got a big career in the game,” Bartley continued.

"Whenever any player comes here, whether it's a loan or a permanent, it's my aim to make them better and I'll do that with him. He was fantastic. He only found out early afternoon ahead of the game that he was starting. No one knew about Daniel so I imagine Oscar thought he was going to be on the bench. I told him he was starting, he's taken it in his stride, and what a performance at a tough place to come. I'm proud of him and he'll get better and better as he gets used to the way we play."

Queen of the South are next in action on Saturday when they host Montrose at Palmerston.