Mcburnie remains upbeat over Scotland’s qualification chances

Oliver Mcburnie remains upbeat about Scotland U21s’ European Championship qualification prospects despite a double-header disappointment.

Scot Gemmill’s side lost 2-0 to their Ukraine counterparts at Mcdiarmid Park on Tuesday night when a goal on the stroke of halftime by Andriy Boryachuk was followed by a second in added time by Viktor Kovalenko as the home side piled forward in hope of a leveller.

The 1-1 draw with Latvia at the same venue on Friday night meant only one point from a possible six and left the Scots in fourth place in Group F with seven points from five fixtures.

Scotland are six points behind leaders England and one behind both Holland and Ukraine, all of whom have to be played again, along with Andorra home and away.

However, the 21-year-old Swansea City striker is adamant that the young Scots can recover.

“It is way too early in the qualifying to rule anything out,” said Mcburnie.

“We beat Holland and Latvia away from home and picked up a result against Latvia at home.

“This double header was not as good as the last ones but there is plenty of time yet.

“There is another whole year of qualifying and if the boys dig in there is no stopping us.

“I didn’t think there was a lot in the first half and then the goal fell to them in the last minute of the first half and it was a kick in the teeth for the boys and a few heads went down at half-time.

“I don’t think we performed as well in the second half but we had a few chances at the end.”

Oliver Mcburnie is still hopefui.