Chris Maguire celebrates with his Scotland team-mates after scoring a sensational winner against Austria. Pic: ©SNS Group
Billy Stark insists his Scotland Under-21 side have nothing to fear after booking their place in the play-offs for the European Championships. The young Scots came from behind to beat Austria 2-1 at Pittodrie on Tuesday, with Chris Maguire scoring an 89th minute winner.
The Group 10 winners have two more games to negotiate to make it to the 2011 tournament proper, taking part in a 14-team play-off round which will determine which seven nations join hosts Denmark in the draw.
Italy, Spain, Holland and 2009 runners-up England are in the pot along with Stark’s team, although holders Germany will be absent after being pipped to the post by Czech Republic and Iceland.
Whoever Scotland come up against, Stark says he is confident his team will have a fighting chance, saying that potential opponents who are already on big salaries can be overcome by team spirit.
“I'm confident that our boys will equip themselves very well,” said Stark. “We have total trust from that point of view.
“Who knows who we'll get, we may get one of the major powers, we could be up against players who have been transferred for millions of pounds and who get paid big, big money every week.
“But I don't think I would worry about any team having the team characteristics that we have. Whoever we get, we'll go into it feeling that we've got a chance.”
The Scots, who needed a win to ensure their spot in the play-offs, went behind just 10 minutes into the game when Marko Arnautovic found the net from range. But Aston Villa youngster Barry Bannan levelled the scores just under 20 minutes later with a spectacular strike on the volley.
Maguire, who had rescued a vital point for his team in the 1-1 draw with fellow qualifiers Belarus on Friday, then stepped up to the plate on his home ground by finding the top corner from the edge of the area with just a minute of regulation time remaining.
“They've been absolutely tremendous start to finish,” Stark raved about his side. “We want to be respected for playing good football and creating chances.
“The bonus is we've got the resilience, the hunger and the desire which you can't put into people, they have to have that. We've showed that throughout.”
