SCOTLAND under-21 defender Thomas Scobbie is already dreaming of playing in the 2011 European Championship finals after helping his side get their qualifying campaign off to a winning start.
Billy Stark's youngsters beat Albania 1-0 in their Group 10 opener in Elbasan thanks to a late penalty from substitute Chris Maguire. They now face the same opponents on Wednesday night at the Falkirk Stadium, Scobbie's home ground.
"We can go al
l the way and I would love to play in the finals," Scobbie said. "But we have to keep working hard for each other and hopefully the results will come. It would be great to play in the finals for any player. We have a good side but we have to keep battling away."
Stark is expecting a tough return match in Falkirk and has warned his players to be on their guard against an Albania backlash. He said: "They might well be thinking they have to win on Wednesday so we need to be cautious.
"We have made a great start but nothing is done yet. We have so many tough games to come but we will get better with each game. We are still coming together but I am very encouraged with the start we have made."
Former Celtic defender Rudi Vata has told Stark – whom he played under when the Scotland coach assisted Tommy Burns at Parkhead – to expect a backlash on Wednesday. " Albania are a better team than what they showed on Saturday," said Vata. "They can make big improvements and go to Scotland and win when they meet again.
"Scotland were very solid and have some very good players but they must not think that the job is complete.
"This double-header is far from finished because Albania will be very dangerous away from home – more so than we saw at home. They will be very hurt by what happened and will be desperate to put things right when they travel to Scotland.
"A wounded Albanian is always dangerous so I expect Scotland to get a really tough night in the next game. I was a little disappointed with Albania but I'm telling you, they'll be much more dangerous in midweek because they lost."
Vata, who still lives in Scotland, added: "This was not the real Albania. They will be eager to correct things next week so Scotland should be warned."
Albania looked a strong outfit from the off and went close after just two minutes when Emilian Vila's shot looped off Jahmir Hyka and Alan Martin had to save under his post.
The Scotland No1 was again called into action in the tenth minute when he brilliantly tipped over Ditmar Bicaj's header from a Erando Karabeci cross.
From the corner, Renato Malotaj went close when he headed a Hyka centre over the crossbar from close range.
But Scotland battled back into the game as Jamie Murphy's cross was headed down by Barry Bannan and keeper Shpetim Mocka had to save at the feet of David Goodwillie.
Hyka looked to have opened the scoring when he flicked the ball over Martin but it ended up on the top of the net.
Murphy should have done better after 21 minutes when Bannan found him with a free kick but the striker's header was saved well again by Mocka. And the keeper should have been beaten in the 26th minute by Andrew Shinnie when he headed Bannan's free kick wide with nobody near him.
Goodwillie again missed a brilliant chance for Scotland before half-time when he headed Bannan's centre wide from six yards.
Albania started to look ragged and they needed a save from Mocka from Shinnie at the start of the second half to keep them level.
Goodwillie again found space in the area but he pulled his shot wide, which was a huge let-off for the men in red shirts, who again survived in the 78th minute. Paul Hanlon timed his run perfectly at the back post and headed Maguire's corner towards goal and Mocka again made a superb save.
But it was Maguire who changed the game after taking a Paul Caddis pass around the keeper, forcing Mocka to make a lunge that brought the forward to ground. The referee pointed to the spot and Maguire dusted himself off to fire low past Mocka from the spot.
