Tartan babes strut their skills at Livi as they get set for Euro glory bid

Feb 26 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

DAVID McNAMEE was the last Livi Lion to pull on the dark blue of Scotland.

Since then Robert Snodgrass, Graham Dorrans and Leigh Griffiths have all represented Scotland at youth level during their time at Livingston.

And this week Almondvale was back on the tip of the tongues of the Tartan Army as the final warm-up match of the under 17 squad came to West Lothian.

Ross Mathie’s teenagers played their last friendly in at the home of Livingston FC before heading to Germany for next month’s UEFA under 17 European Championships.

Their opponents were the hosts and one of the heavy favourites for the competition and they headed home boosted by a narrow 1-0 win.

A goal on the stroke of half-time from Florian Trinks gave the Germans the win and leaves the Scots hoping the Tartan babes can get back to winning ways for the competition where they will face Italy, Georgia and Austria.

Mathie named kids from Rangers, Celtic, Dundee United, Hibs, Motherwell and Aberdeen in his starting line-up while Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood will have had an especially keen eye on the match with four of his youth squad starting and another on the bench.

Scotland stuttered out of the blocks and had to weather an early German storm. But despite their early dominance of the ball Connor Fairley wasn’t really troubled in the home goal.

Kevin Scheidhauer should have changed that on 15 minutes when he pulled a Marvin Plattenhardt cross out of the air but he blazed over the bar from 12 yards.

At the other end Scotland’s best chance in the first half fell to Mitchel Meggison when a mishit shot from Max Wright bounced into his path but the Dons kid swiped at fresh air.

A minute later and the hosts had another sight of goal after Gordon Dick raced clear on the right and skipped past German left-back Plattenhardt but his shot was rising all the time and zipped narrowly over the woodwork.

But on the stroke of half-time the visitors took the lead. Christopher Buchtmann – who is on the books of Liverpool – tried his luck from the edge of the box and when his drive was parried back into the six-yard box Trinks had a simple tap-in for the lead.

After the break a reshuffling of the hosts pack saw Ryan Jack switch from right back to left midfield and he looked dangerous getting forward.

It was an encouraging sign for the hosts and only a stunning save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen denied midfielder Jamie Pollock a spectacular equaliser.

The German keeper punched clear amidst a ruck of players but the ball was fired back in first time by the Motherwell youth who watched in agony as it was beaten away.

It proved to be the Scots last chance as they fell to defeat but the serious business will begin next month when the youngsters fly the flag in the international arena.

Scotland gaffer Mathie reckons home advantage make Germany favourites for the next month’s UEFA under 17 European Championships.

The Scots boss watched them edge out his youngsters and admitted they had plenty in the tank and could have upped the gears if they wanted to.

He said: “Over the years we’ve all been great admirers of the Germans and their organisation, ability, skill and physique. And they showed all of those against us.

“Losing 1-0 is a disappointment especially in the manner we lost the goal as we switched off right on half-time. We had a couple of chances in the first-half and I told the boys that at that level you might only get two chances against teams like Germany and if you don’t take at least one of them then it can cause you a problem.

“There were spells in the game when we were pushing forward but you always felt they could have stepped up a gear.

“I would put them down as one of the big favourites. For one they are at home and another their great organisation. We played Germany before and they are great at boosting the crowd. I remember playing in a 10,000 seater stadium at 10.30am in the morning which was packed.

“They offer kids the day off school on condition they go to the football and that’s a big incentive.”

The Scots babes will now go on to the championships on the back of a defeat but Mathie insists it was important to warm up by playing a top side.

“We could have brought a lesser country here to play but it would have proved nothing. Now our players know the level they need to be at going into the European scene,” he continued.

“One or two performances tonight like Ryan Jack – who has been out injured for a long time – were very pleasing while the game gave us the chance to see another few guys like Nicky Low and Mitchell Megginson. But now I have to whittle the squad down to 18 on the next fortnight.”

Austria, Italy and Georgia await the Scots in the under 17 Championships and Mathie reveals none hold any fears for his side who have proved more than a match for the best.

He added: “We have to play Austria, Italy and Georgia but we have already played the best. At the last under 17 Championships out ing we beat Slovakia who were an excellent side 3-1 but we lost 3-2 to France.

“That defeat was hard on us as we were 2-1 up with three minutes to go. We’ve played the best and held our own.”

Scotland: Connor Fairley, Ryan Jack, Darren Cole, Ross Smith (Kieran Duffie 78), Scott Smith, Jamie Pollock (Kal Naismith 66), Max Wright, (Jordan Lowdon 53), Gordon Dick, Mitchell Megginson (Jordan Kirkpatrick 59), Fraser Fyvie, Nicky Low, Calum McRobbie 41) .

Subs not used: Andrew Kennedy, Graeme McGregor, Cameron Howie, Grant Mosson.

Germany: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Bienvenue Basala-Mazana, Marvin, Plattenhardt, Robert Labus, Shkodran Mustafi, Niko Opper, Yunus Malli (Matthias Zimmerman 68), Christopher Buchtmann, Lennart Thy (Patrick Breitkreuz 80), Florian Trinks (Elias Kachunga 62), Kevin Scheidhauer (Manuel Janzer 74).

Subs not used: Bernd Leno, Mario Gotze, Maik Goralski.