Scotland Under 21s On A Roll

Scotland's Under-21s are looking to go on a run of wins as they complete their European Championships qualifying campaign. Manager Billy Stark wants to secure a place in the 2011 finals on a high. Saturday saw substitute Jamie Murphy scoring an injury-time winner against Belarus to take the young Scots behind Austria on goal difference at the top of Group 10. Before Scotland's win over Belarus, they beat Albania home and away before losing 1-0 in Austria and they now travel to Azerbaijan for their next game on November 14.

Midfielder Kevin McDonald - who missed a first-half chance which may have made for a more comfortable afternoon - is right behind his manager's ambitions. He said: "As the manager says, if we win all our games then we win the group. It's a simple as that and we are in a great position to do it. We have played four games, we have nine points and we have played away twice. We have to be happy with that. It is a tough group and so it was a great result against Belarus. The first two games against Albania were scrappy but we got six points and we have played unbelievably well in the last two games, especially over in Austria. I would say that Belarus were better than Austria. Everyone knows we played well in Austria, especially in the last 15 minutes, and we should have got a result."
Scotland were the better side in Paisley but, aside from McDonald heading wide of the target from around six yards, they mainly huffed and puffed without creating much danger in the visiting defence. Murphy, who had replaced David Gray after 67 minutes, then delivered up a moment of magic to show Stark he may have made a mistake in not handing him a start. The Motherwell player was delighted to grab the late winner and was sufficiently confident to claim that Scotland should be travelling to Azerbaijan with some confidence. He said: "We have played all the teams apart from Azerbaijan and we don't feel fazed by anyone. We have only lost one so far so why can't we go through? The top of the group is the aim but if second place is there, we will take it."