Arbroath Keen To Extend Loan Deal

Arbroath are interesting in extending Ross Gardiner's loan deal at Gayfield Park.

The 20-year-old joined the 3rd division side last week and made his debut in their 4-0 win over Elgin City, but manager John McGlashan is keen to extend the 32 day loan deal until the end of the season.

Craig Levein has already loaned out Lee Wilkie to Ross County for a month, and seems to think that loaning out players is beneficial because it gives them competitive match practice and a chance to work on other parts of their game.

"Ross made his debut at Elgin and acquitted himself extremely well" said Arbroath's manager John McGlashan.

"He trained with us on the Wednesday but on Saturday was still unfamiliar with many of the players' names. He came in and did remarkably well under the circumstances and can be very pleased with his debut performance."

He continued, "Ross has been signed on a loan deal for 32 days to cover the Dumbarton match on January 13. If he still wants to remain at Arbroath and Dundee United are happy for him to stay, then we would look to extend the loan period for another month or until the end of the season."

The son of former United goalkeeper John Gardiner, Ross joined Dundee United`s Youth Development program and was part of the Under-17 side which won the Festival D'Armor trophy in France in the summer of 2003.

The central defender made his debut for the Dundee United 1st team at the end of last season, when manager Craig Brewster decided to give some of the younger players some match experience once United had become safe from relegation.

Ross played in 4 of United's SPL matches, but never on the winning side, with 3 defeats and 1 draw - Caley Thistle(a) 0-1, Falkirk(h) 0-2, Dunfermline(h) 0-1 and Motherwell(a) 1-1.

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