POLE POSITION

SCOTLAND Under-19 coach Tommy Wilson last night claimed his babes have nothing to fear as they set off in search of European Championship glory.

The squad fly out to Poland this afternoon desperate to put their country back on the map as we plot our way back to being a respected foot balling nation.

Despite a 20-year absence of any of our youth teams from major tournaments, Wilson believes his players have the stomach for success.

He said: "They are bursting to get there and I had a phone call from Callum Elliot at Hearts, who had just arrived back home from his club's pre-season tour of Austria.

"Clearly lads like him had other options but he's desperate to be here.

"Elliot and Steven Fletcher have been playing against seasoned internationals each week so when you take that into this tournament then it's extremely beneficial.

"They've had to be streetwise and even the lads who haven't had much first-team experience, as they play for Celtic or whoever, are every bit as good as the others.

"Our next target is to get to the semifinal stage and if we achieve that then we'll have qualified for the World Youth Championships next year."

Wilson is adamant his players can come of age in a group which has pitted them against Portugal, Turkey and Spain.

And he knew it was inevitably going to be labelled the 'group of death'.

He said: "When the group was drawn, all of the coaches of the various teams called it the group of death. One of them even called it the blood group.

"That makes it that bit more difficult but we've played all three of them over the past two years.

"We drew with Spain last year and also with Turkey and we beat Portugal.

"We know the challenge we face but, for these guys, the bigger the challenge then the bigger they become.

"I have had a number of calls from coaches around the country who've told us that getting into this stage is a shot in the arm for coaching in this country.

"The clubs couldn't be any more helpful to us and we appreciate that.

"A lot of the boys have been with our youth team since they were schoolboys and we have added a few players from that and some have fallen out.

"This is the first time we've had the boys together since we qualified while other nations have been working with their squads for a few weeks."

Norwich kid Andrew Cave-Brown may have an English accent but he's made it clear there should be no doubts about his patriotism.

And the defender insists Scotland can go all the way and lift the trophy.

He said: "There's a feeling we can win this tournament even though it's the first time for more than 20 years we've been at this level.

"Everyone thought we would do well to get here but now we've qualified we want to do well.

"If we can get through the group, there's every chance we could win it.

"We've not lost to any of the teams in the group in the last year so that proves we're a quality team.

"It also makes a difference that this squad has been together for quite a long time.

"All my family up here are so proud as well and they know it's good for Scottish football if a young team does well.

"It was only a couple of months ago we qualified and now everyone's really looking forward to it.

"My mum was born in Glasgow and all my family live up here, so that's how the connection came about.

"Most of them live in Ruchazie so I've been able to catch up with them.

"I came up on Thursday so I managed to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins.

"They're all very chuffed for me and I know that, even though she doesn't show it that much, my mum's really proud of me as well.

"I played for Scotland in the Victory Shield when I was 15 and I've never looked back.

"Ever since I played my first game in Scotland colours, I've never considered playing for any other country.

"It felt like the natural thing to do and my mum was a big influence on me choosing to play for Scotland.

"At no time did it seem like I was doing anything wrong, although I get a fair bit of stick from my international team-mates as well as the boys at Norwich."

Taken from the Daily Record