National coach Billy Stark knows his Under 21 side will not be in for an easy time tonight in Nijmegen when they play their EURO2012 Under-21 Championship qualifier against Holland. The Dutch sit at the top of Group 10 with nine points from their first three game including narrow but vital wins in Bulgaria and Austria. Scotland have garnered five points having drawn at home with Bulgaria and Austria either side of the expected away win in Luxembourg. The game may be a bit of a challenge but Scotland will be going for a win as Stark says playing for a point would be alien to him.
He said: "We have to go into every game if not expecting to win then certainly feeling we've got a really good chance. That's the type of mentality we want to create. We certainly won't be saying to the players that we're going there for a draw because we're not capable of doing that for a start. If we are to get anything we'll certainly have to threaten Holland. We wouldn't be able to sit in our own half and expect to get away with it. That's the sort of positive mentality we'll be hoping to achieve."
The former Aberdeen and Celtic midfielder accepts that his side will be facing one the best young sides in Europe. He went on: "If we were to share the spoils over there it would be a very, very good performance and a good result. It will a very good performance in order to come back with anything from this game. When you look back over the last number of years and you look at the great footballing nations, Holland and Spain would be right up there. What they've both had over the last number of years is success at under age levels. Holland's not a team you'd have picked (to play against) as a top seed, but it's a great challenge for us and we expect Holland to have the type of player they've been producing for many, many years now. That is athletic, very skilful, a very good knowledge of the game and that all adds up to being a very good test for us."