McLennan reveals club mentality is secret to Gemmill’s Euro success
SCOTLAND Under 21s hero Connor McLennan believes the secret to their success is Scot Gemmill’s youths treat international duty like a club side as they stand on the brink of following the senior team by making history next week in Greece.
McLennan equalised for the Under 21s at Tynecastle after the young Scots battled back from being two goals down to a talented Croatian team. The Aberdeen winger isn’t popular in Zagreb - he also came off the bench in the first game in the Balkans last year and netted a double as Scotland again fought back in a 2- 1 win.
With the nation on a massive high after this week’s magnificent Euro 2020 penalty shootout win in Belgrade against Serbia, Gemmill’s side will be desperate to follow in their footsteps and they know a first qualification for a quarter of a century is in their hands. A win in Athens on Tuesday will see them through to the Finals next March in Hungary and Slovenia.
And McLennan is convinced the spirit in the squad will see them through. He said: “I only just heard there the last time we qualified was in 1996 and I don’t think any of the team were born back then. The coaching staff have drummed it into us that we can make our mark in history if we get through.
“From the very start of the campaign it’s been hammered into us by the staff that we could do well in this group and we all believed we could qualify. We’ve taken it game by game and this is it now - we’ve got one massive game to go.
“It’s a very strong squad we have. Sometimes starts and game time can be hard to come by. It’s kind of like a club feel here with the Under 21s. It doesn’t matter who plays, they all get supported and we are all in the same boat.”
And McLennan, who has enjoyed a good start to the season with Derek McInnes’ side, was delighted to again cause the Croats major problems.
He said: “It was like the game in Croatia a little bit because we were 1- 0 down over there and 2- 0 down here so we had to show resilience to get a draw.
“It was very pleasing for me personally to get on and get a goal again. We knew it was going to be a tough ask at 2- 0 down. Their second goal was a worldy strike. but we always felt there would be chances there for us. Glenn Middleton coming on gave us a boost and myself coming on helped too,
especially because we scored.
“We knew before the game it was going to be evenly matched and you can see that on the league table. There’s not much between us. It was a big tactical battle and the coaching staff have done a lot of hard work. Now it’s up to us to carry out the game plan next week.”