National debut was four-some ...but I should have scored
Former Rangers centre-back delighted to make grade for
FORMER Rangers centrehalf David Bates last night admitted his debut for Scotland had been a dream come true – apart from having a legitimate goal wrongly chalked off by the match official.
Bates, who moved to Hamburg in the summer and has been playing in the second tier of German football this season, was drafted in to the national team after Mike Devlin and Charlie Mulgrew both pulled out due to injuries.
But the 22-year-old performed maturely in difficult circumstances and helped his country keep a clean sheet in a 4-0 win that has raised hopes they can beat Israel in their final Nations League fixture and clinch a Euro 2020 play-off spot.
The defender, though, admitted his night was tarnished slightly when Russian referee Vladislav Bezborodov ruled a goal he had netted in the second-half in the Toro Borici Stadium had been offside.
“It was brilliant,” he said. “Getting the result like that in my first game, the defence having a clean sheet and the performance being good was delightful. But I nearly got a goal. I thought I was offside but
TV replays have shown it wasn’t. “James (Scotland winger Forrest) was at me saying
I’d ruined his hat-trick. He had a little joke in the changing-room about that.”
Bates was only called in to the Scotland squad on the Sunday before the Albania game after Charlie Mulgrew of Blackburn Rovers pulled out with a rib injury.
However, the former Brechin City, East Stirling and Raith Rovers man got the nod to start after Devlin of Aberdeen withdrew.
He coped well with the occasion and will be hopeful of getting the nod in a Group C1 outing against Israel at Hampden tomorrow evening that his side need to win to progress to the play-offs as a result.
“I felt fine from the start,” he said. “I got an early touch which helped get me into the game. Ryan Fraser scored early and that helped us settle ourselves.
“The sending-off happened (Mergim Macraj was red carded for a head butt on Ryan Christie in the firsthalf) and we got a few more goals. But we felt as though we could’ve had more. Me included! It was a good performance from the lads.
“It’s only the halfway point
because we went to Albania knowing we’d two games to deal with. But it was a good performance from the lads. Everybody knew what we could do over here. Now we have another big game on Tuesday and we can focus on that.”
Bates added: “I didn’t feel under any particular pressure going into the game. We trained all week and we knew what the squad’s capable of – there are very good players in the squad. You