May is star of show as Strachan takes a look

STEVIE MAY last night put on a superb display in front of a watching Gordon strachan — including what proved to be the winning goal — on hi s f ul l debut f or t he Under-21s.

The presence of scotland’s senior squad and their manager helped inspire Billy stark’s side to prove a point — and earn three more — after back-to-back humiliations in England and holland.

But the undoubted star of the show in this Euro 2015 qualifier was st Johnstone striker May, whose energy and drive will have given strachan some food for thought.

he not only secured an important victory that leaves the young scots second in Group Three — above slovakia on head-to-heads — but boosted flagging confidence after last month’s 4-0 qualifying loss in Nijmegen to the Dutch and the record 6-0 loss to England in a friendly in sheffield.

As well as staking his own claim for a step up to the seniors, May’s performance — in which his danger with the ball was matched by his work rate without it — went some way to showing up his predecessor, Celtic’s Tony Watt.

shipped out to Belgium on loan by Neil Lennon, Watt has also been cast into the international wilderness by stark until his fitness improves. If May’s current form is anything to go by, he will find it hard to get back into the team.

‘stevie was fantastic tonight,’ beamed stark. ‘he got his opportunity after coming on as a sub in the last two games and he’s grabbed it with both hands.

‘he really worked his tail off all night. International football moves from game to game and we gave someone an opportunity tonight and he rose to it.

‘My boys have had criticism recently, which was on the money after the England game, although we drew a lot from the holland game. They are group favourites and they won 6-0 in Georgia tonight. But still, we had something to prove and I think we did that tonight.’

Right from the start, May was a handful f or the slovaks. his strength down the right carved out the first real chance of the game for fellow full debutant Callum McGregor, but the Celtic kid saw his shot from just inside the box saved by keeper Patrik Le Giang.

The impressive McGregor, who has scored six goals in 12 games on loan at Notts County, carved out another opportunity shortly after, but his shot from inside the box, f ollowing a l ung- bursting run, dipped narrowly over the bar.

scotland made the breakthrough after the half-hour mark when Clark Robertson set off on a rampaging run down the right. The Aberdeen youngster’s expert pull-back was coolly swept home past Le Giang from the edge of the box by captain stuart Armstrong.

May made it 2-0 five minutes later when he burst into the box past Jakub Vojitus before crashing a stunning left-foot rocket high into the slovakia net f or his f i rst international goal at any level.

Wigan’s Fraser Fyvie was then booked for a two-footed tackle on Jakub Paur but, in truth, he was lucky to escape a red.

The first half came to a close with May racing into the box and rounding Le Giang before unselfishly deciding to play the ball across goal where slovakia scrambled it to safety.

After the break, Fyvie was next to go one-on-one with Le Giang but his cutback also proved fruitless. The dangerous May then headed off the junction of post and bar after a cross from Celtic’s Dylan McGeouch.

McGregor was next to squander a run at the keeper after May’s through ball and it looked ominous f or stark’s side when slovak substitute Thomas Malec headed a goal back with 22 minutes left.

From having been in cruise control, the young scots now l ooked increasingly nervous and Fyvie’s last act before being replaced by Andy Robertson was to kick a Paur header off the line. The slovaks, meanwhile, claimed in vain that it had been a goal.

The victory boosts their chances of reaching the finals in the Czech Republic in 2015, and stark believes the presence of strachan and his team proved an inspiration.

‘I didn’t tell the boys the full team and Gordon were going to be here but I think we maybe responded to that,’ he said.

‘In the end, it was nervier than it should have been because we didn’t take our other opportunities but we created a lot of chances against a very good side and that’s a positive.’