Gemmill confident Gilmour will learn from costly dismissal
S cot Gemmill b elieves Billy Gilmour will learn from the red card which will deny him the chance to lead S cotland to next summer's European Under-21 Championships.
The Chelsea midfield starlet was sent-off for mouthing off at Italian referee Michael Fabbri just moments after being i n t r o d u c e d a g a i n s t C r o a t i a from the bench.
Gilmour was looking to take command of the game as Scotl a n d f o u g h t b a c k f r o m t wo goals down but his moment of madness after giving away a foul means he will now sit out his team's final Group 4 clash against Greece next Tuesday.
Ge mmil l s t u c k u p f o r t h e 19-year-old, insisting Gilmour did not mean to insult the officials and has backed the forme r R a n g e r s y o u n g s t e r t o grow on the back of his mistake.
A w i n i n At h e n s w i l l s e e Gemmill's boys become the first Scottish Under-21 side to qualify for a tournament since 1996 but Gemmill believes his team can cope without their
Stamford Bridge playmaker.
He said: "Billy is a very honest player. He did swear but he didn't mean for it to be in the direction of the referee.
"There's a little bit been lost in translation but we will have to deal with it.
"It's another development step for Billy.
"But the team reacted in the right manner and we've managed to come out with the right result."
The result leaves S cotland level on points with the Czech R e p u b l i c b u t t o p o f G r o u p 4 cour tesy of their sup erior head-to-head record.
T h e C z e c h s f a c e G r e e c e today while Croatia - who sit a point behind - round off their campaign against Lithuania, meaning Scotland can clinch automatic qualification with a victory on Tuesday.
"The game had everything," admitted Gemmill.
"The reaction from the players to come back from t wo goals down against Croatia is another tremendous example of their ability to execute a game plan. We showed fantastic character and mentality, all the things you need to be top players.
"(Qualification) is in our own hands now but we'll concentrate on the preparation and the performance. It's a cliche but you have to get that right to get what you want in the end."