U21s to go Dutch to down England

SCOTT McKENNA believes Scotland Under21s boss Scot Gemmill’s homework can help his side come through another tough examination when they face England tonight.

The Aberdeen defender credits Gemmill’s attention to detail for last month’s shock 2-0 win over Holland in their opening Euro 2019 qualifier.

Now ahead of their showdown with the Auld Enemy at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium, McKenna believes his boss has again got all the bases covered after drawing up his game plan for Aidy Boothroyd’s Young Lions line-up.

He said: “When you look at England’s squad, they have got a lot of players who are playing at a high level in the Premier League.

“The England Under-20 side won the World Cup in the summer and many of those players are in this squad.

“But there is no reason why, if we play like we did against the Dutch, we can’t get something from the game.

“For the Dutch game, we met up on the Thursday even though the game was on the following Tuesday.

“We spent a lot of that time doing video analysis and working on the detail of how we would set up at corners, goal-kicks and even throw-ins.

“I don’t think Holland enjoyed the game one bit as everything we worked on in training came off perfectly and we ran out deserved winners.

“We stopped them playing out from the back. We forced them to play a game they didn’t want to play and they struggled to implement a plan B.

“It is only the second time I have worked with Scot Gemmill. In terms of tactics and his explanations of what he wanted us to do, it was spot on.”

Tonight’s clash will be the first meeting of the nations at under-21 level since 2013 when Scotland suffered a painful 6-0 drubbing at Bramall Lane.

But McKenna cannot see history repeating itself on Teesside.

“Already in this group we have improved on our past record. Holland and England have already drawn 1-1 as well, so we can go into the game with confidence on the back of our last result.”