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24.3.15
Scotland Under-21 (4) Russia Under-21 (0)
Scotland- M.McCall 4 D.Paton 39,51 S.Burns 57
Russia- None
MOM- John Whiteford, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 7 , Derek Smith- 7 , John Gallacher- 6 , Mark McCall- 7, Kevin Henderson- 8 , Darren Paton- 9 , Garry Shearer- 7 , John Whiteford- 10, Steven McDonald- 8 , Stephen Burns- 8 , Ian Gray- 8 (No subs used)

John Whiteford continued to demonstrate he stands head and shoulders above most players at his age as he led the Under 21 side to an easy win over the visiting Russians. Mark McCall got us off to a fast start when he deflected Steven McDonald's corner past Ruslan Sadykov. Darren Paton's first goal also came on a McDonald corner to give us a 2-0 halftime lead. Paton scored his second goal on a rebound after Sadykov had parried Ian Gray's initial blast. Stephen Burns caught Sadykov out of position and looped a header over him into the corner of the net off of a nice cross from Whiteford to finish off the scoring in our 4-0 win.

***

25.3.15
Scotland (0) Russia (1)
Scotland- None
Russia- M.Izmailov 72
MOM- Andrey Lozhkin, Russia

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 8, Derek Bruce- 8, Jim Reid- 7, Philip McGuire- 7, Andrew Rollo- 8, Mark McNeil- 7, Ian Knox- 6, Paul Elliott- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Steve Duncan- 7, Graham Anderson- 8, Ross O'Donoghue- 7 (on 60 for Pearson), Michael Stewart- 6 (on 60 for McNeil)

In a match that we had to win to have a chance of overtaking Russia for the automatic qualifying spot from the Group, we came up short. The heavy experience of the Russian club was an advantage over our younger lineup in this match- that and the fact that they knew they could be extremely patient since a draw would suit them as well as a win. We pressured their backline throughout the match, but behind linchpin Andrey Lozhkin they kept blunting our attacks. When we did get good chances- their keeper Nikolay Filimonov was right there to keep the ball out of the net. The lone goal in the match came when they caught us pressing forward and made a good counter-attack. Andrey Ovsyannikov made a long, searching 30 yard pass that Marat Izmailov outleaped Jim Reid for- he knocked it past a diving Jamie Langfield for the decider in their 1-0 win. The win meant that Russia would almost certainly finish atop the Group, but we were still in a good position in 2nd for the Playoff Qualifier. Israel beat Azerbaijan 3-0 to move into 3rd place in the Group, but that was their last easy match- as they face the teeth of the Group for the remainder of the way.

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21.4.15
Scotland Under-21 (4) Greece Under-21 (0)
Scotland- D.Paton 45 K.Cook 66 T.Smith 71 D.Gibson 85
Greece- None
MOM- Derek Smith, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 8 , Derek Smith- 9 , John Gallacher- 6 , Mark McCall- 7, Kevin Henderson- 8 , Darren Paton- 7 , Garry Shearer- 7 , John Whiteford- 7, Steven McDonald- 7 , Stephen Burns- 7 , Ian Gray- 7, Derek Gibson- 9 (on 59 for Burns), Mark Higgins- 8 (on 59 for Gray), Tom Smith- 8 (on 59 for Whiteford), Graeme Wilson- 9 (on 59 for Shearer), Kevin Cook- 9 (on 59 for McDonald), Paul Ferguson- 8 (on 59 for Paton)

The first half was rather boring as the Greece side was committed to a blanketing defense and content to not take any chances on the offensive side of the football. We finally managed to bludgeon our way to a goal when Daron Paton outleaped a pair of defenders to deflect a corner from Steven McDonald past Ilias Adoniadis in first half injury time. The complexion of the match changed when Giorgis Karyofillis was redcarded early in the second half. The Greek defensive scheme faltered and we took advantage as crisp passing set up goals by Kevin Cook, Tom Smith and Derek Gibson to finish off our 4-0 win. The Greek side didn't manage a shot on goal for the entire match.

***

22.4.15
Scotland (1) Greece (1)
Scotland- K.Parker 84
Greece- G.Papadakis 17
MOM- Jim Reid, Scotland

Scotland- Jim MacLeod- 8, Derek Bruce- 6, Jim Reid- 9, Steven Brown- 5, Andrew Rollo- 8, Mark McNeil- 8, Ian Knox- 6, Paul Elliott- 7, Craig Cargill- 6, Graeme Whyte- 7 (1st Cap), Martin Bruce- 6, Kiegan Parker- 8 (on 56 for Bruce), Martin Cameron- 7 (on 56 for Whyte), Ross O'Donoghue- 8 (on 56 for Elliott), Stephen Pearson- 7 (on 56 for Knox), Darren Fletcher- 7 (on 56 for Cargill), Michael Stewart- 8 (on 56 for McNeil), Stephen Cameron- 6 (on 56 for Brown), Robert Malcolm- 7 (on 56 for Bruce)

Our younger lineup didn't fare too well against a cagey Greek squad in the early going. Greece exploited Steven Brown on the backline and Giorgis Papadakis had an easy time twisting him into a pretzel on his dribble, before he fired a high shot past Jim MacLeod. With our vets on in the 2nd half, we rallied and Kiegan Parker scored a late equalizer with a nice lob over Antonis Voulgaris to give us the 1-1 draw.

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gambler- wow Your tale is a bit humbling *chuckle*
I am glad you enjoyed the story- though to be honest I think 'The Bet' is a better overall story (Troubled Visions will be in time- but with how long that the Lord of the Rings Challenge will be- the story will be parcelled out).

I actually started out just like you (though my roots go back to CM 2). I had a friend, whose opinion I respected a lot, tell me that I would really enjoy CM- even though I knew very little about football (well, soccer here in America). Once I started out- I haven't stopped since

I am a huge baseball fan though, and the addition of OOTP to the mix is great news in my estimation. Since I played Ice Hockey for 20 years- also looking forward to EHM.

Thanks again for the kind words, and start penning your own stories here- newcomers always welcome

And now back to my story....

***

2.6.15
Switzerland Under-21 (0) Scotland Under-21 (5)
Switzerland- None
Scotland- J.Whiteford 10 S.McDonald 13 G.Shearer 42 D.Clarke 57 K.Robertson 80
MOM- Steven McDonald, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 7 , Derek Kerr- 7 (Celtic) , John Gallacher- 8 , Mark McCall- 7, Kevin Henderson- 7 , Darren Paton- 8 , Garry Shearer- 8 , John Whiteford- 9, Steven McDonald- 10 , David Clarke- 8 , Ian Gray- 7, Mark Anderson- 7 (on 58 for Whiteford), Paul Ferguson- 8 (on 58 for Shearer), James Millar- 6 (on 91 for McCall), Kevin Robertson- 7 (on 58 for Gray- Rangers), Gary Mitchell- 7 (on 58 for Clarke- Hibs)

It was another impressive display by the youngsters as we rolled over Switzerland in Bern. Our midfield of Whiteford, McDonald and Shearer keyed the win as they continually pressured the Swiss backline (I know- but I will avoid the 'swiss cheese' jokes that were much in prevelance following the match). Whiteford and McDonald struck for a pair of early goals, both coming off runs from just inside midfield. Shearer then added a natty run of his own to put us up 3-0 at half. David Clarke added a volley off a corner from McDonald and then Kevin Robertson knocked in our final goal off an excellent pass from Paul Ferguson to finish off our satisfying 5-0 win.

***

3.6.15
Switzerland (1) Scotland (1)
Switzerland- M.Kottman 38
Scotland- A.Rollo 20-P
MOM- Marcel Kottman, Switzerland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Derek Bruce- 8, Jim Reid- 7, John McPherson- 7 (1st Cap), Andrew Rollo- 8, Mark McNeil- 7, Ian Knox- 8, Paul Elliott- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Graham Anderson- 7, Martin Cameron- 7, Kiegan Parker- 6 (on 59 for Cameron), Martin Bruce- 7 (on 59 for Anderson), Shaun Maloney- 6 (on 59 for Elliott), Mark Kerr- 7 (on 59 for Pearson), Darren Fletcher- 7 (on 59 for Knox), Scott Martin- 7 (on 59 for McNeil), Robert Malcolm- 7 (on 59 for D.Bruce)

Switzerland had no intention of being embarrassed like we did the last time we faced them- for a friendly they took the match deadly serious. We held the early advantage when Andrew Rollo converted the penalty kick after Graham Anderson was bumped in the air on a corner. They evened things up when Marcel Kottman boomed in a 20 yard free kick. We played pretty well offensively, but their keeper Adrian Walker was very sharp that day and though we outshot them 18-4 for the match, we had to settle for the 1-1 draw.

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4.9.15
Israel Under 21 (0) Scotland Under-21 (4)
Israel- None
Scotland- D.Clarke 17,21 I.Gray 42 J.Whiteford 45
MOM- David Clarke, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 7 , Derek Kerr- 7 , John Gallacher- 7 , Mark McCall- 7, Billy Baxter- 8 (Kilmarnock) , Darren Paton- 10 , Graeme Wilson- 8 , John Whiteford- 9, Steven McDonald- 7 , David Clarke- 10 , Ian Gray- 9, Tom Smith- 7 (on 59 for Whiteford), James Millar- 6 (on 59 for McCall)

It was a clinical display of football for the first half of our Under-21 match in Tel Aviv. David Clarke led off the scoring by being first to a loose ball and firing it past Udi Levi. Clarke quickly added his 2nd marker of the match off a nice pass from Darron Paton. Ian Gray added our 3rd goal when he took a pass from Whiteford and marched past two defenders for an easy goal. Whiteford then capped the explosive first half when Paton found him on the dead run and he motored past two defenders before slotting the goal home. The second half was much quieter as neither club had the kind of offensive verve we showed in the first half and we closed out our 4-0 win by limiting them to one shot.

***

5.9.07
Israel (0) Scotland (2)
Israel- None
Scotland- S.Duncan 38 K.Parker 59
MOM- Jamie Langfield, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 9, Stephen Crainey- 7, Richard Montgomery- 7, Philip McGuire- 8, Andrew Rollo- 8, Mark McNeil- 7, Ian Knox- 8, Paul Elliott- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Graham Anderson- 6, Steve Duncan- 8, Kiegan Parker- 8 (on 58 for Anderson), Mark Kerr- 7 (on 58 for Pearson)

This may well have been the match where all our youthful additions started coming of age. We were starting a very young lineup for this key match against Israel in Tel Aviv. Israel knew going in that only a win would keep their chances of finishing 2nd in our Group alive- as we were 3 points ahead of them and had match in hand. The youngsters, especially Ian Knox and Steve Duncan kept their composure in the rough play early in the first half and then Duncan struck to give us the lead on a superb cross from Knox. With Israel pressing us hard, we had to lean heavily on Jamie Langfield and he came up with all the big stops to keep us in the lead. Our cagey vets then helped ensure the win. Almost immediately after they subbed on together- Mark Kerr lofted a precision cross that Kiegan Parker deflected past Hezy Cohen to give us the breathing room we needed. We played with more confidence from there on out and finished out the 2-0 win. Portugal beat Russia 2-1 in Lisbon to setup a showdown match with us for 2nd place in the Group.

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8.9.15
Scotland Under-21 (1) Portugal Under-21 (1)
Scotland- S.McDonald 79
Portugal- Magalhaes 82
MOM- Kevin Ferguson, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 8 , Derek Kerr- 8 , John Gallacher- 7 , Mark McCall- 6, Billy Baxter- 6, Darren Paton- 8 , Graeme Wilson- 6 , John Whiteford- 7, Steven McDonald- 7 , David Clarke- 7 , Ian Gray- 7, Paul Ferguson- 6 (on 62 for Wilson), Mark Anderson- 6 (on 62 for Whiteford)

Things looked grim early on as we faced Portugal in our Under-21 match. Billy Baxter lost his temper and earned 2 quick yellow cards and an early shower at the 6 minute mark. Portugal swarmed us while we tried to get organized, but Kevin Ferguson was outstanding and we survived their fury to go to halftime scoreless. In the second half, we started generating a few chances and one of them paid off when Steven McDonald (who had moved back to cover rightback) jumped into the play and blistered a shot from just inside the edge of the area past Pedro Freitas. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold off the inevitable rally and Magalhaes scored a dazzling goal with a banana kick past Ferguson. We finished out the 1-1 draw, content with the effort and determination shown by our youngsters.

***

9.9.15
Scotland (0) Portugal (0)
Scotland- None
Portugal- None
MOM- Nuno, Portugal

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 8, Stephen Crainey- 8, Richard Montgomery- 8, Philip McGuire- 8, Andrew Rollo- 8, Mark McNeil- 8, Ian Knox- 7, Paul Elliott- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Graham Anderson- 7, Steve Duncan- 7, Kiegan Parker- 7 (on 58 for Anderson), Mark Kerr- 7 (on 58 for Pearson)

The battle with Portugal at Hampden Park had everything a football fan could want- except scoring. Nuno and Jamie Langfield held a sensational clinic on how to play the net as both refused to yield a goal. Both sides had plenty of good chances. Portugal would feel very unlucky in that they managed to hit the post three times in the early going in the first half, but of course none went in. We had many good chances, but our best was the Mark Kerr to Kiegan Parker combination just after they subbed on (in a repeat of the Israel match). Kerr crossed smartly and Kiegan got a good head on the ball, but Nuno got his fingertips on it and pushed it over the bar. When the final whistle sounded, I felt we had survived and was pleased with the scoreless draw. It left us in great position to make the playoffs as all we needed was a win at Azerbaijan to finish 2nd in the Group and Azerbaijan had lost against Russia in the other match to set a Qualifying record of 13 straight defeats.

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9.10.15
Azerbaijan Under-21 (1) Scotland Under-21 (6)
Azerbaijan- M.Mihart 37
Scotland- S.Burns 2,52-P,55 M.Anderson 7 J.Whiteford 32 M.Higgins 43
MOM- Mark Higgins, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 7 , Derek Kerr- 8 , Stephen Rea- 6 (Dundee), Brian Brown- 7 (Rangers), Billy Baxter- 8, Darren Paton- 8 , Mark Anderson- 10 , John Whiteford- 9, Steven McDonald- 10 , Stephen Burns- 10, Mark Higgins- 10 (no subs)

Our Under-21 side blitzed the very young Azerbaijan Under-21 squad. We held a 4-1 halftime lead that were all on headers from Stephen Burns, Mark Anderson, John Whiteford and Mark Higgins. Burns added an early 2nd half penalty kick after Higgins was taken down in the area and then completed his hat-trick with a volley off a corner from Steven McDonald. It was a solid performance in our 6-1 road win.


***

10.10.15
Azerbaijan (2) Scotland (3)
Azerbaijan- O.Walling 45 M.Haque 76
Scotland- M.Kerr 6 I.Duncan 9 P.Elliott 90
MOM- Andrew Rollo, Scotland

Scotland- Jim MacLeod- 7, Derek Bruce- 9, Jim Reid- 6, Philip McGuire- 6, Andrew Rollo- 9, Mark McNeil- 9, Mark Kerr- 8, Paul Elliott- 8, Stephen Pearson- 8, Ian Duncan- 8 (1st Cap), Steve Duncan- 8, Kiegan Parker- 6 (on 62 for Ian Duncan), Darren Fletcher- 7 (on 62 for Kerr)

In what was almost a disastrous match for us at Baku, Paul Elliott pulled our chestnuts out of the fire with a brilliant goal in second half injury time to win the match for us. We took Azerbaijan way too lightly, especially after a pair of early goals by Mark Kerr and Ian Duncan (in his debut). It looked like we might rout them, but instead their keeper- Fessel Coad- steadied and kept us from scoring more. They got one back in first half injury time when Jim MacLeod let a shot get away from him and Oleg Walling pounced on the rebound. We hammered away at Coad, trying to increase the lead in the second half, but instead it was Azerbaijan who evened things when Miroslav Haque outleaped Philip McGuire to head a Marcelo Novaku corner past MacLeod. You could sense a bit of our desperation as a draw would keep us out of the Playoffs (we knew Portugal had already beaten Israel). Just moments into injury time, it was Elliott who shook free of his marker and took an excellent pass from Andrew Rollo. He wheeled and smashed it past Coad to give us the win. We had three possible penalties that weren't called, an indication that the referee was not quite in favor of infuriating the 35000 fans who were hoping to see Azerbaijan break their losing string. The win sends us into the playoffs against Turkey.

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13.11.15
Turkey Under-21 (0) Scotland Under-21 (4)
Turkey- None
Scotland- M.Higgins 2,16 S.Burns 45,82
MOM- Stephen Burns, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 8 , Derek Kerr- 6 , Stephen Rea- 6, Brian Brown- 6, Billy Baxter- 8, Darren Paton- 9 , Graeme Wilson- 7, John Whiteford- 8, Steven McDonald- 8, Stephen Burns- 10, Mark Higgins- 10 (no subs)

The Turkish Under-21 side had no luck in handling our tandem of Stephen Burns and Mark Higgins as they could not effectively mark either of them and we took full advantage of that fact. Burns scored his pair of goals in the early stages of the first half- one off a nice pass from Darron Paton, the other on a perfectly laid off ball from John Whiteford. Higgins added his first goal in first half injury time when he deflected a corner from Steven McDonald in to give us a 3-0 halftime margin. Higgins added his 2nd goal of the match late in the second half when he was lurking and able to pounce on a rebound and slip it into the open net. The youngsters were really happy with how well they fared in front of a very hostile Turkish crowd, something the Senior side would see as well.

***

14.11.15
Turkey (0) Scotland (3) European Championship Qualifying 1st Leg
Turkey- None
Scotland- I.Duncan 34,68 P.Elliott 48
MOM- Ian Duncan, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Derek Bruce- 7, Richard Montgomery- 8, Steven Brown- 7, Andrew Rollo- 8, Mark McNeil- 7, Mark Kerr- 9, Paul Elliott- 8, Stephen Pearson- 6, Ian Duncan- 10, Steve Duncan- 7, Stephen Cameron- 6 (on 65 for McNeil), Darren Fletcher- 7 (on 65 for Pearson)

Sometimes the unlikliest heroes arise, and that was the case of Ian Duncan for us. Nobody expected me to select him for the National side- much less for him to be starting. Why did I? Because I was looking for an accomplished goal scorer and he was really the only top-rated Scot that had proven he could score at any level of play. Sure, he was on lightly regarded Division 1 St.Mirren- but I was convinced he was just a natural scorer, and that is what I needed up front to pair with talented Steve Duncan. Ian proved me right when he absolutely crushed that free kick past Caliskan Caner to give us the lead in the first half. That moment was definately a turning point in the match, because up until then all we had managed to do was earn 4 yellow cards in the space of the first 25 minutes and things were looking a bit gloomy with the tight reins of the ref and our inability to get our passing attack moving. The entire club loosened up after Ian's goal- and though we didn't score again in the first half it carried over past halftime. Mark Kerr had one of his finest matches ever on the International scene and it was his brilliant pass that sprung Paul Elliott for an easy goal in the opening moments of the second half. With two away goals in hand, we concentrated on closing down the most imposing of the Turks- forward Fevzi Sadat- who had caused us lots of problems in the first half. While we were doing that we managed one more counterattack and took full advantage when skipper Andrew Rollo crossed and Ian Duncan headed it past Caner for his 2nd goal of the match. We played tough defensively from that point and despite the Turks attempts to at least gain a consolation goal- Jamie Langfield kept the clean sheet. The 3-0 win set us up nicely for the 2nd leg at Hampden Park.

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17.11.15
Scotland Under-21 (4) Turkey Under-21 (1)
Scotland- M.Higgins 26,47 S.Burns 16,53-P
Turkey- Y.Yassin 87
MOM- Mark Higgins, Scotland

Scotland- Kevin Ferguson- 8 , Derek Kerr- 7 , Stephen Rea- 8, James Taylor- 7 (Cambridge), Billy Baxter- 8, Paul Ferguson- 7, Graeme Wilson- 7, Tom Smith- 9, Steven McDonald- 7, Stephen Burns- 8, Mark Higgins- 10, Kevin Cook- 7 (on 59 for McDonald)

It worked so well the first time around, we just kept working the ball into Mark Higgins and Stephen Burns and once again they carried us to a win. Just as in the first match, the Turkish backline could not keep the tandem under wraps. Tom Smith's fine pass to Stephen Burns set him up for an easy goal to start us. Higgins added his first goal on a short cross from Smith. In the opening moments of the second half, Higgins struck for his 2nd goal of the match as he deflected a short chip from Graeme Wilson into the far corner of the net. Burns then added his 2nd of the match when he converted the penalty kick after Wilson was knocked down in the area. We couldn't keep the clean sheet this time as promising forward Yassir Yassin outpaced two defenders before rocketing a shot past Kevin Ferguson in the late stages. The 4-1 win pleased the crowd that watched the match at Celtic Park.

***

18.11.15
Scotland (2) Turkey (3) European Championship Qualifying 2nd Leg- Scotland Qualifies 5-3 aggregate
Scotland- S.Duncan 76-P,90-P
Turkey- T.Serdal 45 O.Atilla 51,67
MOM- Eren Metin, Turkey

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 6, Derek Bruce- 7, Jim Reid- 6, Steven Brown- 7, Andrew Rollo- 7, Stephen Cameron- 6, Mark Kerr- 6, Shaun Maloney- 7, Stephen Pearson- 7, Ian Duncan- 7, Steve Duncan- 8, Mark McNeil- 7 (on 54 for Cameron), Paul Elliott- 7 (on 54 for Pearson)

Yes, you're right- our youthful side showed up in the 2nd Leg. We only needed a strong defensive performance and due to all the yellow cards in the match before- many of our best defenders were out- or I was trying to get through the match without playing them (McNeil and Elliott...). It turned out to be a poor idea. It looked like we would make it through the first half unscathed, thanks to fine work from Jamie Langfield, but suddenly Turkey had a foot in the door when Topcu Serdal headed past Langfield in injury time and it was only 3-1. You could sense the apprehension going into the second half. That apprehension, on both the staff and squad seemed warranted when Eren Metin's sizzling cross was headed past Langfield by Ozen Atilla. Suddenly, we were only up one goal, and it was time to try and get our offense moving- so I subbed on Paul Elliott and Mark McNeil to try and steady things. It didn't work. Unsal Mustafa made a nice run down the right wing and crossed from the baseline. Atilla outleaped Jim Reid and you could the groan of the crowd as Langfield got a hand on it- but not enough to keep it from going into the net. Turkey had come all the way back and evened the match with 3 away goals. If they scored another, it would certainly have doomed us- since we would have had to win outright. Then the referee made his presence felt. Mark Kerr flicked a ball forward for Ian Duncan just outside the area and it looked like Duncan would have a good chance when he reached it first. Young defender Ahmet Cem grabbed hold of Ian's jersey in desperation and was given a redcard for his choice. I motioned for our club to move more to the attack. With Turkey still a bit disorganized with a man less, Shaun Maloney made a left side run and slipped the ball in to Mark McNeil. McNeil only made two steps before Ekrem Suleyman tripped him, but those steps put him inside the area and Suleyman's yellow card gave us a penalty kick. Steve Duncan looked like an old pro, instead of a youngster, as he hammered the penalty past Caliskan Caner- and just like that we were back on top on aggregate. Not wanting to give away a chance of a counterattack for them, we altered our formation to close down the wings. While we were trying to hold the ball, we gained a late corner. Steve Duncan sent an outswinging corner that Mark Kerr was set to deflect- until Uzun Sadat pushed him. Steve Duncan once again converted the penalty kick and with a 5-3 aggregate lead we were finally able to close out the determined Turks. The crowd at Hampden Park gave the visitors a deserved hand- as they had made a wonderful effort, but we were on our way to the European Championships.

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25.3.16
Scotland 'B' (0) Ireland 'B' (1)
Scotland- None
Ireland- P.O'Connor 52
MOM- Mark Connolly, Ireland

Scotland- Michael McDonald- 7, Steven Hammell- 6, Scott Watson- 7, John McPherson- 7, Jamie McCunnie- 6, James O'Brien- 7, Peter Young- 7, Robert McKeown- 7, Mark Morrison- 7, Billy O'Neal- 7, Martin Bruce- 8, Douglas Hutchinson- 7 (on 68 for O'Brien), John Clarke- 7 (on 68 for Hammell), Ross O'Donoghue- 7 (on 68 for Young), Kevin Cook- 7 (on 68 for McKeown)

Our 'B' side played pretty well as we hosted the Shamrocks from Ireland in a friendly. But, despite outshooting them and outplaying them in a majority of the match, we wound up on the wrong side of a close 1-0 decision. The lone goal of the match came when Mark Connolly sent a searching cross and Pat O'Connor was on hand to deflect it past McDonald. We stirred the crowd as we tried to rally, but Tony Sullivan had all the answers in net for them and they kept the clean sheet in the 1-0 loss.

***

26.3.16
Scotland (0) Ireland (3)
Scotland- None
Ireland- C.Murphy 3-P, J.Cassidy 29 D.Scully 54
MOM- John Paul Cassidy, Ireland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Stephen Crainey- 7, Brian Brown- 5 (1st Cap), Steven Brown- 6, Andrew Rollo- 7, Darren Paton- 5 (1st Cap), Garry Shearer- 7 (1st Cap), Paul Elliott- 7, Ian Knox- 7, Ian Duncan- 6, Steve Duncan- 6, Ian Gray- 6 (on 52 for Ian Duncan- 1st Cap), Mark Anderson- 7 (on 52 for Steve Duncan- 1st Cap), Steven Fraser- 7 (on 52 for Shearer- 1st Cap), Darren Fletcher- 7 (on 52 for Elliott), Steven McDonald- 7 (on 52 for Knox- 1st Cap), Richard Montgomery- 7 (on 52 for Brown), Kevin Henderson- 6 (on 52 for Rollo- 1st Cap), Mark McNeil- 6 (on 52 for Paton)

While it was a nice glimpse at our future- the youngsters did rather poorly as we hosted Ireland for a friendly. Despite the fact that most of them had played together, we were completely disjointed a majority of the match, and the veteran Irish squad made us pay for our mistakes. 19 year old Brian Brown was especially jittery and had a terrible time of things from the opening whistle on. He fouled John Paul Cassidy in the area and Colin Murphy converted the ensuing penalty to give the visitors a quick lead. Alan Browne then made a nice through ball and Cassidy zoomed past Brown before firing it past Jamie Langfield. We fared a little better in the 2nd half, as the only marker came from the Irish when Damien Scully hit a fierce shot past Langfield on a nice pass from Cassidy. It was a learning experience, but not one I cared to repeat anytime soon.

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26.4.16

Scotland 'B' (1) Hungary 'B' (0)
Scotland- G.O'Connor 79
Hungary- None
MOM- Gary Farrell, Scotland

Scotland- James Dock- 7, Andrew McDonald- 8, Scott Watson- 7, John McPherson- 7, Jamie McCunnie- 6, James O'Brien- 8, Ross O'Donoghue- 8, Christopher McGregor- 7, Gary Farrell- 8, Gary O'Connor- 8, Martin Bruce- 8 (no subs used)

The 'B' side looked much sharper as we dominated visiting Hungary, but were only able to manage a 1-0 win due to good work from their keeper Tamas Korsos. Gary O'Connor scored the lone goal of the match in the second half when he volleyed past Korsos on a good, short pass from Gary Farrell. Martin Bruce was left feeling a bit snake bit, as Korsos stopped him three seperate times on good opportunities.

***

27.4.16
Scotland (2) Hungary (1)
Scotland- P.Elliott 28 D.Fletcher 90
Hungary- P.Biro 90
MOM- Garry Shearer, Scotland

Scotland- Jamie Langfield- 7, Derek Bruce- 8, Brian Brown- 7, Steven Brown- 6, Andrew Rollo- 7, Darren Paton- 7, Garry Shearer- 9, Paul Elliott- 8, Ian Knox- 7, Ian Duncan- 7, Steve Duncan- 7, Ian Gray- 8 (on 59 for Ian Duncan), Mark Anderson- 7 (on 59 for Steve Duncan), Steven Fraser- 7 (on 59 for Shearer), Darren Fletcher- 8 (on 35 for Elliott), Steven McDonald- 8 (on 59 for Knox), Richard Montgomery- 7 (on 59 for Brown), Mark McNeil- 7 (on 59 for Paton)

With many International debuts out of the way in the loss to Ireland, the youngsters played a much more steady match as we hosted Hungary in a friendly. Paul Elliott gave us the first half lead when he danced around Tamas Balog and scored after Garry Shearer had magically delivered a pass to him through a crowd. We pressured them through most of the remainder of the match, but weren't successful in scoring. Late in the second half, they put forth a furious rally and managed to even the match just in the opening minute of injury time when Peter Biro rapped home a rebound past Jamie Langfield. Just as quickly we came back with the match winner when Ian Gray's blast got away from Balog and Darren Fletcher chipped it in to give us the exciting 2-1 win.

****

Celtic wound up winning the SPL for the first time in 15 seasons. They finished ahead of the pack of clubs that were within 3 points of each other in places 2-5. Kilmarnock finished 2nd, Dundee United 3rd, Rangers 4th and Motherwell 5th.

***

Our squad for the 2016 European Championships was:
GK- Jamie Langfield, Jim MacLeod, Paul Sinclair (25 yr old Celtic keeper- not yet capped)
Defense- Stephen Crainey, Richard Montgomery, Philip McGuire, Andrew Rollo, Derek Bruce, Kevin Henderson, Brian Brown (at 19 one of the youngest players in the tourney, but also had earned SPL Player of the Year honors), Steven Brown
Midfield- Ian Knox, Paul Elliott, Stephen Pearson, Mark Kerr, Ross O'Donoghue, Shaun Maloney, Darren Fletcher
Forwards- Steve Duncan, Ian Duncan, Kiegan Parker, Mark Anderson

It was a mixture of players likely making their last International appearances (36 yr olds McGuire, Langfield- 34 yr olds Crainey, Kerr, Parker, Montgomery) and the products of the Scot youth movement (19 yr old Brian Brown- 21 yr olds Knox, Henderson, Anderson- 24 yr olds Elliott, Steven Brown, Bruce and Steve Duncan). I hoped that I had the right mix going into the tournament, but I wasn't at all sure.

We were cast into Group 1 with England- Yugolavia- Poland. This certainly didn't seem an easy Group at first glance, because both Poland and Yugoslavia weren't slouches and England was still England.