Gordon Moffat hopes young defender Matt McLean can continue to improve after picking up the Bobby Wood award at the club’s virtual presentation night – and the Bankies boss is keen to use experience from his own playing days to help him along the way.

McLean picked up the award for best young player last season, having made 31 appearances and celebrated the success further by penning a new deal at Holm Park last Tuesday.

Moffat said: “It was important for me to get Matt on board for another year.

“He’s really grown into his position and he’s still a young man.

“I like to think having played centre-back myself I’ve got some stuff I can offer him and really improve him.

“His attitude is excellent and he’s keen to learn. He recognises that he’s not the finished article but I definitely saw him grow last season and I’m excited to keep working with him.”

Nicky Little was the big winner at the virtual ceremony, winning four awards including Player’s Player and Player of The Year after his 18 goals last term.

Moffat added: “I had only been in the door for a couple of months when we sat down and spoke to Nicky about a new contract.

“Naturally in those situations there was a bit of negotiation to be done, but Nicky was never going anywhere.

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“He was always going to stay and it just had to be right for him. We were delighted to do that and it’s a big commitment from a guy who has been our talisman.

“It sets the tone for speaking to other guys and they can see we’ve got a player like him for another couple of years.”

The importance of Little to the Bankies team wasn’t undermined by Moffat, who also praised a member of the behind the scenes team at the club.

He said: “We felt that the awards night was meant to be happening that weekend so why not do it anyway.

“The boys had a good season so we felt it was important that they got recognised.

“David Brockett put all the videos together and he’s been superb.

“He had asked all of us to do different videos and at the end of my video I had put a mention in for him and the work he’s been doing and, David being David, he ended up cutting it out.

“It’s important we do things like this and at the moment he’s probably more important than anyone at the club.”

Speaking about next season, Moffat said: “With the signings that we’ve got done for next season we’re in a very good place.

“Some teams are putting their signings out there which I can understand because there’s no football getting played so, in a way, it’s maybe not doing so much harm but we’ve made our decision that these guys have got contracts until mid-June so we’re trying to show a bit of respect and not make things public until that happens.”