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6.10.12
France (0) Scotland (0)
France- None
Scotland- None
MOM- Jamie Langfield, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 9, Stephen Crainey- 8, Alan Archibald- 8, Jim Reid- 7, Jamie McCunnie- 8, Michael Stewart- 8, Stephen Pearson- 6, Barry Ferguson- 7, Mark Kerr- 6, Kenny Miller- 5, Kiegan Parker- 6, Steven Nicholas- 7 (on 66 for Kenny Miller), Mark Fotheringham- 7 (on 66 for Mark Kerr, 1st Cap), Stephen Hughes (on 85 for Stephen Pearson)

In the finest Scottish tradition, we leaned on strong backline play and steady work from our keeper in battling to a scoreless draw at Stade de France. We did an excellent job of keeping their potent midfield and frontline from impacting the match. Unfortunately, their backline and midfield did a better job on ours- pretty much snuffing out our offense for most of the match. Jamie Langfield was superb and came up with the big save when needed- especially on Djibril Cisse and Nicolas Anelka late in the match. The scoreless draw was a satisfactory result for us at this early juncture.

In other Group action- Slovenia's 2-1 win over Estonia in Llubljana brings them even with France and us at 7 points after three matches in Group play. Romania easily saw off Malta 2-0 in Bucharest.

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Come on Scotland!

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Thanks Rashidi

***

9.10.12
Scotland Under-21 (4) Slovenia Under-21 (0)
Scotland- M.Bruce 45,90 S.Duncan 50 G.Shearer 74
Slovenia- None
MOM- Martin Bruce, Scotland

Scotland- John Martin- 8, Jim Bruce- 7 (Rangers), Robert Lamont- 7 , Mark McCall- 6, Kevin Henderson- 6, Darron Paton- 8 (Dundee), Garry Shearer- 9, Tom Smith- 7 (Hibs), Scott Thomson- 9, Steve Duncan- 9, Martin Bruce- 9, Andrew Gibson- 7 (on 69 for Jim Bruce), Graeme Wilson- 7 (on 69 for Smith, Crewe)

Slovenia showed excellent defensive determination in the first half of the Under-21 match. Though it looked like the clubs would be scoreless, it was Martin Bruce's header on a Gary Shearer cross left us with a halftime lead. Scott Thompson set up the 2nd goal with a perfect little cross that Steve Duncan volleyed past Ales Gunjac. Shearer's goal came when he intercepted a clearing pass and squeezed through a shot that Gunjac never moved on. Bruce finished off the scoring with his 2nd header of the match, this time off a cross from Scott Thomson as we finished out the 4-0 win.

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10.10.12
Scotland (2) Slovenia (0)
Scotland- K.Miller 30 S.Hughes 74
Slovenia- None
MOM- Stephen Pearson, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Stephen Crainey- 8, Alan Archibald- 8, Jim Reid- 7, Jamie McCunnie- 7, Michael Stewart- 9, Stephen Pearson- 10, Barry Ferguson- 7, Mark Kerr- 7, Kenny Miller- 8, Kiegan Parker- 8, Steven Nicholas- 6 (on 79 for Kiegan Parker), Mark Fotheringham- 8 (on 79 for Stephen Pearson), Stephen Hughes- 8 (on 70 for Barry Ferguson)

The packed house at Hampden Park gave us a rousing ovation as we left the pitch after completely dominating visiting Slovenia. We were a bit unlucky to have only won 2-0 as we poured 21 shots at Dejan Nemec, while only allowing 2 at Jamie Langfield. The midfield lead by Stephen Pearson had entirely too much pace for Slovenia, but they did play their trademark determined defensive match in trying to stay with us. Kenny Miller gave us the halftime lead when he deflected a cross from Pearson past Nemec. It looked like we had gone up 2-0 early in the 2nd half, only to see Mark Kerr ruled offside and Kiegan Parker's goal was waved off. After subbing on for a tiring Barry Ferguson, it was the pace of Stephen Hughes that allowed him to volley a pass from Michael Stewart past Nemec for his 1st International goal. We clamped down with the 2-0 lead and they weren't able to move the ball out of their end in the remaining time in the match.

In other Group play- France dumped Malta 2-0 in Rabat and Romania continued piling on to Estonia's woes as they crushed them 3-0 at Tallinn.

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13.11.12
Austria Under-21 (0) Scotland Under-21 (6)
Austria- None
Scotland- S.Duncan 1,39 S.Thomson 13 M.Bruce 53 T.Smith 79 I.Duncan 83
MOM- Steve Duncan, Scotland

Scotland- John Martin- 7, Andrew Gibson- 7, Robert Lamont- 7, Mark McCall- 9, Kevin Henderson- 7, Darron Patton- 7, Garry Shearer- 8, Paul Elliott- 8, Scott Thomson- 9, Steve Duncan- 9, Martin Bruce- 9, Colin MacLeod- 8 (Leicester, on 55 for Thomson), Tom Smith- 9 (on 55 for Elliott), Mark Craig- 7 (Motherwell, on 55 for Shearer), Ian Duncan- 9 (St.Mirren, on 55 for Duncan), Derek Campbell- 7 (Chesterfield, on 55 for Bruce), Alan O'Neil- 7 (on 55 for Patton)

In another pleasing show, the Under-21 squad embarrassed the Austrians in front of a large home crowd. We took control in the opening moment when Steve Duncan made a good move with the ball and buried his shot past Michael Schneider. Martin Bruce's short cross was perfect for Scott Thomson to head past Schneider for a quick 2-0 lead. It was 3-0 at halftime after another dazzling run by Duncan. Following Martin Bruce scoring when he deflected a header on a cross from Thomson, Schneider was pulled from the match. Peter Ibertsberger initially fared better in the net, but Tom Smith came through unmarked and rifled a 20 yard shot past him. Ian Duncan then finished the scoring as he took the ball just inside the edge of the area and beat Ibertsberger cleanly with a rising shot.

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14.11.12
Austria (1) Scotland (1)
Austria- M.Hiden- 4-P
Scotland- G.Anderson 1
MOM- Graham Anderson, Scotland

Scotland- Mark Brown- 8, Richard Montgomery- 6, Alan Archibald- 6, Philip McGuire- 7, Andrew Rollo- 6, Stephen Cameron- 6 (1st Cap), Mark Fotheringham- 8, Barry Ferguson- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Shaun Maloney- 7, Graham Anderson- 8, Steven Nicholas- 6 (on 55 for Maloney), Darren Fletcher- 7 (on 55 for Pearson), Mark McNeil (on 55 for Cameron), Jim Reid- 6 (on 55 for Archibald), Jim Paterson- 6 (on 55 for Montgomery), Ross O'Donoghue- 8 (on 55 for Ferguson), Mark Kerr- 8 (on 55 for Fotheringham)

All the scoring happened quickly in our last match for 2012- our friendly with Austria in Vienna. Graham Anderson scorched a shot past Heinz Weber in the first minute, after a pass from Stephen Pearson had put him free in the area. Austria quickly evened the match when Stephen Cameron, showing the nervousness at a first Cap, knocked over Thomas Schnieder in the area and Martin Hiden converted the penalty kick past Brownie (who was making his first International appearance since 2007). The rest of the match featured entertaining up and down play, but with both Weber and Brownie looking sharp- neither club could pot another goal and settled for the 1-1 draw.

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Thanks Prophet

***

22.3.13
Romania Under-21 (0) Scotland Under-21 (5)
Romania- None
Scotland- I.Knox 7 S.Thomson 17 S.Duncan 26,51 G.Shearer 88
MOM- Steve Duncan, Scotland

Scotland- John Martin- 7, Andrew Gibson- 8, Robert Lamont- 7, Mark McCall- 8, Kevin Henderson- 7, Darren Patton- 7, Garry Shearer- 10, Ian Knox- 8 (Arsenal), Scott Thomson- 9, Steve Duncan- 10, Martin Bruce- 9, Ian Gray- 8 (on 61 for Bruce), Paul Elliott- 8 (on 61 for Knox)

Scotland Under-21s continued to impress all of the staff as they rolled over Romania in Bucharest. Ian Knox made his debut successful when he boomed home a 25 yard free kick to give us the lead. Scott Thomson scored off a weighted pass from Martin Bruce for a 2-0 lead. It was 3-0 at halftime when Steve Duncan picked up a loose ball and drilled it past Adrian Munteanu. Duncan scored his 2nd of the match to open the second half and Garry Shearer finally capitalized when he capped the scoring by heading a cross from Thomson past Cornel Niculae (replaced Munteanu after Duncan's 2nd goal) to close out an impressive 5-0 win.

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23.3.13
Romania (0) Scotland (2)
Romania- None
Scotland- K.Parker 11 M.Kerr 59
MOM- Kiegan Parker, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Stephen Crainey- 6, Alan Archibald- 9, Jim Reid- 7, Andrew Rollo- 8, Michael Stewart- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Barry Ferguson- 7, Mark Kerr- 8, Kenny Miller- 8, Kiegan Parker- 9, Richard Montgomery- 6 (on 61 for Archibald), Ross O'Donoghue- 7 (on 61 for Ferguson)

Our first match in 2013 was a key road visit to Bucharest to face Romania. A win from Romania would put them right back into the hunt for 2nd spot and I was assuming France would beat Belarus on the road, so this was a match I felt we needed to win. Kiegan Parker got us off on a great note when he knocked in a rebound after Radu Tudor couldn't handle a blistering shot from Kenny Miller. We dominated the first half- only allowing the home side one shot on goal, while managing eight. We maintained our pressure in the second half and Mark Kerr added an insurance goal when it was his turn to drill a rebound shot past Tudor- after he again couldn't snare a hard shot from Kenny Miller. They only managed one shot in the second half also and we boarded the flight out with a 2-0 win in the books.

In other Group play- France, as expected, dominated Slovenia in a 4-0 win, while Estonia finally managed their first win- a close 2-1 victory in Malta. The results left France and us even atop the Group.

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27.3.13
Malta (0) Scotland (3)
Malta- None
Scotland- J.Reid 45 S.Nicholas 61 R.O'Donoghue 87
MOM- Steven Nicholas, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Jim Paterson- 7, Alan Archibald- 7, Jim Reid- 7, Andrew Rollo- 9, Mark McNeil- 8, Mark Kerr- 7, Barry Ferguson- 7, Ross O'Donoghue- 8, Kenny Miller- 8, Steven Nicholas- 9, Shaun Maloney- 9 (on 60 for Miller), Stephen Hughes- 8 (on 60 for Ferguson)

We continued our winning ways with another impressive road performance at Malta. Malta had played us very tough in Edinburgh, but this time we completely shut them down on offense. There was little for the home crowd to cheer as we didn't allow them a shot on goal, while managing 19 ourselves. Kevin Galea kept them in the match with a terrific first half, but Jim Reid's header on a Jim Paterson free kick gave us the halftime lead. Shaun Maloney made an explosive entrance- subbing on for Kenny Miller- as he broke clean and then laid the ball off perfectly for Steven Nicholas to drive past Galea to put the match out of reach for us. Ross O'Donoghue finished off the scoring with a volley off a nice pass from Andrew Rollo.

In other Group play- France worked their way past Estonia at Tallinn by a 2-0 margin. Romania dumped Slovenia 3-0 to remain within lurking distance of France and us atop the Group.

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17.4.13
Rangers were finishing out a dominating campaign in the SPL. They clinched the title with four matches remaining. Motherwell, now under rookie manager Graeme Anderson, was then 4th and if they finished there it would be there worst finish since 2002-3, when we finished 3rd.

***

23.4.13
Scotland Under-21 (5) Switzerland (0)
Scotland- M.Bruce 20 S.Thomson 30 S.Duncan 43 D.Campbell 61 I.Gray 90
Switzerland- None
MOM- Steve Duncan, Scotland

Scotland- John Martin- 7, Derek Bruce- 7 (Barnsley), Iain Crawford- 8 (Partick Thistle), Mark McCall- 7, Darron Patton- 9, Alan O'Neil- 7, Garry Shearer- 7, Ian Knox- 8, Scott Thomson- 8, Martin Bruce- 8, Steve Duncan- 9, Ian Gray- 8 (on 59 for Bruce), Derek Campbell- 8 (on 59 for Duncan), Tom Smith- 8 (on 59 for Knox), Paul Elliott- 7 (on 59 for Thomson), Mark Craig- 7 (on 59 for Shearer)

In another convincing effort our Under-21 crunched visiting Switzerland 5-0 in a friendly. Martin Bruce started the scoring with a header on a cross from Scott Thomson. Thomson then scored with a rising shot after a pass from Ian Knox. The match seemed firmly in hand at halftime after Steve Duncan scored with an excellent touch after a good pass from Knox. Derek Campbell continued the scoring binge in the 2nd half when he headed in a cross from Tom Smith and Smith also set up Ian Gray for a pretty goal in the late stages to finish off the 5-0 win. I remembered thinking after this match that Ian Knox might be the eventual replacement for Barry Ferguson on the Senior side- and that he might be on the Senior side sooner than he (or anyone else) expected.