CONN ARTISTS
SCOTLAND KIDS SHOW WAY TO GO
BY ALAN MARSHALL CONNOR McLENNAN revealed the Under-21s executed their game plan to perfection as he revelled in handing the nation a much-needed pick-me-up.
The Aberdeen winger came on for the last 11 minutes in Sibenik with the young Scots trailing to an early goal from the Croatian hosts.
But McLennan arrived to net a double that secured a fantastic victory against the Pot One side whose full team reached the World Cup Final last year.
The unexpected win was a huge boost after a dismal week for the senior side.
And the 19-year-old reckons Gemmill handed the players belief they could go and win and make it two victories out of two after a routine victory against San Marino last week.
He said: “It was a mad 10 minutes or so for me!
“We executed the game plan perfectly and we knew as long as we stayed in the game we’d get chances.
“It was a massive win and it gives us enormous confidence going into the other qualifiers but we weren’t surprised at the result.
“Scot and the rest of the staff put a huge amount of work into the preparations for the game. We all knew what we had to do, he didn’t leave anything out. We knew every one of their players, we knew they were a P GREECE 2 SCOTLAND 2 CZECHREP 1 LITHUANIA 3 CROATIA 1 SAN MARINO 3
GROUP D
W 2 2 1 1 0 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 0 L F 0 6 0 4 0 2 2 3 1 1 3 0 Scotland v Lithuania 10/10/19 Czech Rep v Scotland 14/10/19 Scotland v Greece 15/11/19 Scotland v Croatia 27/03/20 Greece v Scotland 31/03/20 Lithuania v Scotland 08/09/20 Scotland v Czech Rep 09/10/20 San Marino v Scotland 13/10/20 A PT 0 6 1 6 0 3 3 3 2 0 10 0 quality team from Pot One. We knew there would be spells where we wouldn’t have the ball but we had a game plan and it worked out perfectly.
“As soon as we got the goal everyone felt the momentum.
“They had a boy in their team against us who was part of their World Cup squad so that gives you an idea what we are up against. It’s a massive result.
“Hopefully, it’s given everyone a boost because it was a bit of a dull week. We were at the Russia game and watched the Belgium match. I saw fans weren’t happy but hopefully it’s given everyone a spark.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea kid Billy Gilmour will undergo a scan to discover the extent of a groin injury that kept him out of the win over the Croats.
The 18-year-old midfielder picked up a knock in training and will return to Stamford Bridge for tests.