PETALING JAYA: Fergus Tierney is slowly making his presence felt in the Cyprus League, and coach Fangio Buyse believes the move to Europe can help the young attacker build his credentials.
The 23-year-old, who was born in Glasgow but raised in Malaysia by his Scottish parents, has impressed at Omonoia 29M with two goals and one assist in five league games.
Buyse, who led the club from the second division to the top flight last season, said Tierney fitted the profile they were seeking.
“After our first meeting, it was clear that we were dealing with a young, ambitious player whose target was to play in Europe, and he was willing to do everything to succeed.
“This determination made us decide to choose Fergus,” said the Belgian, who enjoyed an extensive playing career in Belgium and Greece from 1993 to 2013.
“As his coach, I’m very happy with his mentality and desire to work.
“I believe it is still early to speak about progress, but his performances in the five championship games, with two goals and one assist, give us confidence that there will be very positive progress by the end of the season.
“Certainly there is improvement in his tactical moves and also in his decision-making during games.
“It also seems he is starting to find a way to score more easily and to become a decisive player for our team. With his passion and level of performance in training, he showed us he was ready to be in the first team.”
Buyse said adapting to a new culture was the first hurdle for any player moving abroad, and Tierney had cleared it quickly.
“The first thing to adopt when you go to play in another country is the culture and the mentality. As we have a very good team spirit and mentality in the club, I believe Fergus integrated very fast and was accepted by the other players.
“Compared with championship games in Malaysia, there is a big difference in tactical knowledge, dynamics and intensity, which requires time to adapt.”
The coach also identified areas for improvement and said Tierney should make step-by-step progress before thinking about the big leagues in Europe.
“As a striker, you depend on numbers (goals and assists), so we need to work on the last pass, the finishing, the runs into free spaces, and also general technical improvement.
“The talent is there. The player needs to work and have his personal target of playing in a higher league.’’
