Gemmill: Scotland U/21s eager to take on very best

SCOTLAND U/21 coach Scot Gemmill called for his players to embrace the daunting prospect of starting the next European U/21 qualifying campaign with games against Holland and England.

The young Scots missed out on this summer’s finals in Poland and the draw for the 2019 qualifiers saw them placed in the same section as, traditionally, two of European football’s top nations as well as Ukraine, Latvia and Andorra.

Part of the preparations for the qualifiers, which start in September with a home game against the Dutch followed by a trip down south, is a friendly against Estonia at the Paisley 2021 Stadium tomorrow.

Scotland U/21s have not qualified for the finals of the European Championships since 1996 but as he looked ahead to a tough start to the next qualification campaign, Gemmill said: “They are going to be fantastic games to be involved in.

“Of course they are very difficult games, the opposition are going to be a really high level.

“We’ve probably got some of the tougher teams out of those pots and we have to really embrace it, we have to embrace the challenge.

“It is an opportunity for the players to play against the very best. Speak to any players, they will be really keen to be involved.”

Motherwell defender Zak Jules has pulled out of the squad and was replaced by Cameron Ballantyne, on loan from Dundee United to Montrose, but he picked up an ankle injury against Arbroath on Saturday and Gemmill “will see if it settles down”.

Henrik Ojamaa will be a late returner to Dundee training after international duty.