'He has been a huge addition' - Berwick Rangers boss Stuart Malcolm bidding to extend loan deal of Falkirk ace Blair Sneddon until end of season

Left back Sneddon, 20, has been outstanding in Berwick’s last two matches which have both yielded wins in the Scottish Lowland Football League, 4-0 at home to Dalbeattie Star on December 3 and then the 3-1 success at Celtic B three days later.

Malcolm, whose side’s scheduled league game at Cumbernauld Colts last Saturday was postponed due to a frozen pitch, told the Berwickshire News: “Blair coming in from Falkirk has helped us massively.

"He is a natural left back who wants to defend and is capable of going up and down the pitch.

“Blair’s very good defensively, his defensive work is exceptional. He’s very tenacious, he’s quite happy getting involved with body contact and he is really aggressive and shows great perseverance going forward up the pitch.

"He also has a great first touch and is brilliant at getting himself into spaces so he has added a real dynamic to us in terms of that.”

Malcolm said that Sneddon had been “a huge addition” after previous left back Miller Fenton got injured and returned to parent club Dunfermline Athletic.

"Blair was sensational against Dalbeattie,” the Berwick boss added. “He was involved up and down the left hand side of the game, all game.

“And Blair was brilliant against Celtic ‘B’ too, really, really good.

"He really stepped up to it and that’s what he’s here for. He’s here to go and give himself a load of games to try and kind of push his career forward at Falkirk.

"However, because of weather we have found it difficult to get the games on.

"We have got him short term just now and obviously we’re really keen to keep him longer because he’s been excellent. We are going to be working away trying to do that.

"However, we just have to wait and see what Falkirk are thinking about on that front.”

Berwick, 12th with 27 points from 19 games, are next in league action at University of Stirling on Boxing Day (next Monday), with kick-off at 3pm.