On his return to Tynie, Hickey will be up for the fight against the Danes
Scot Gemmill insists top seeds, Denmark, hold no fears for his Scotland Under-21 kids because the young Scots relish a challenge.
Thy face the Danes at Tynecastle a week on Thursday after a fixture switch, with the Euro 2023 qualifier originally scheduled to be played in Vejle.
Scotland started their campaign with an encouraging 1-1 draw in Turkey, achieved without any of their Englishbased players.
And Bologna’s Aaron Hickey is in line for his first cap at this level – on his old Hearts stomping ground – after becoming the first Scot to score in Serie A for 35 years.
The former Jambo was on the mark against Genoa last Tuesday in a 2-2 draw.
Gemmill has previously seen his Under-21 side beat top seeds, Croatia, away and defeat the Dutch home and away in the previous two qualifying campaigns.
So he’s relishing a game against the dangerous Danes, whose senior side reached the Euro 2020 semi-final, and are runaway leaders of Scotland’s World Cup group.
He said: “Denmark have consistently been a Pot One team for a long time now.
“Their youth team and full squad consistently qualify for finals, and develop and produce good, young players.
“They have good pathways to first-team football, if not in Denmark then moving to countries like Germany.
“But it’s a great opportunity for our players. This is exactly what we need to replicate that high level as they push towards the full squad.
“And it’s a terrific challenge for us to be technically and tactically correct – and physically and mentally correct – and really challenge the team to perform well.
“In the last few years, we have had some really encouraging results and performances against the higher teams.
“It will be another big job for us to get everything right.”
Gemmill had no problem in agreeing to the switch of venue and country.
He said: “I completely understand right now there are higher priorities like Covid, and the process of getting the game played.
“Denmark raised the red flag that they were really struggling to host the game.
“I believe there is an exceptional number of conferences taking place there as they come out of lockdown.
“They asked to switch the game, and it seemed only right.
“So we spoke to our matches department, and Tynecastle was available.
“Of course, the football is a consideration, but the priority was to get the game played.”