I NEED STEVIE WONDER TO BE ON SONG
SCOT GEMMILL is praying Stevie Mallan can bring his scoring form for Hibs to the international stage on Friday.
Mallan’s goal tally for the season already sits at nine and Scotland Under-21 boss Gemmill would give anything for just one of those strikes against Ukraine in the European Championship qualifier.
Nothing less than a win in Kiev will keep hopes of a play-off spot alive.
Gemmill said: “Just one goal from Steven on Friday would be good.
“He’s shown, even back in the Championship with St Mirren, he could do it. To do it in the Premiership is tremendous.
“Goalscoring is a huge asset to any team but I’m sure Neil Lennon will be trying to improve all the other aspects of his game.
“If you are going to play at the top, top level, you have to be nine out of 10 in every aspect.
“He’s not shy anyway. In terms of confidence, you couldn’t knock him down with a shotgun.
“He’s shown he can influence games and that’s the real test. Everyone is excited to try to push him to the next level.”
Gemmill also praised Mallan for bouncing back so spectacularly from being frozen out at Barnsley for most of last season and grabbing his chance with Hibs.
He said: “He’s shown maturity to handle that disappointment. Hopefully he’s using it as motivation.
“I’d like to think we helped him with that. We carried on selecting him during that period.”
Scotland suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Ukraine last November but an upturn in fortunes, including a win in Holland, has given Gemmill’s side a late shot in the arm.
The boss says keeping the back door bolted shut in Kiev is the key to securing the points.
He said: “We need to make sure we concede as few goals as possible.
“In my opinion, the team will only be successful if we don’t concede goals. For me that’s the platform for any team to do well.
“In the last Under-21s campaign, which included a 4-0 defeat in Ukraine, we conceded too many goals.
“If anything has given us a platform to do well it’s being hard to beat and not conceding goals. That’s what we need to get correct on Friday, the tactical discipline.
“The players will know their jobs, the challenge is for them to do their jobs.
“It’s a huge challenge but the one we want for our best young players.”
Gemmill flew to Ukraine with his squad yesterday and will meet up with his English-based players in Kiev this morning.
He said: “We’re still recovering from the games at the weekend.
“David Bates was given the option of meeting us in Kiev, he played on Friday in Germany but he chose to come back and he had a day and a half with his family first.”