GREG'S GOT THE BOTTLE FOR THE BATTLE

SCOTLAND'S babes were allowed to crack open a few beers as their reward for booking a European Championship semi-final spot against the Czech Republic.

But for Dundee United's Greg Cameron it was his battle to pass water which had him reaching for the bottle.

The Under-19s midfielder spent almost two hours struggling to provide a sample for the dope test after the 3-2 win over Turkey.

With Celtic's Charlie Grant banned for tomorrow night's game, Cameron will step in and he's determined not to suffer another bout of stage fright.

He said: "I had to drink three and a half litres of water with a doctor at my shoulder so it took me an hour and 45 minutes.

"I knew I would be there for a while but room-mate Garry Kenneth wasn't too happy last night as I was up and down to the toilet about eight times.

"Hopefully If I'm picked I will keep my place for the final if we get there. All the boys are in it together and knowing Charlie, he'll be right behind us and willing us into the final.

"I will have a word with him. I know he's gutted but he'll bounce back. I was gutted to be dropped after the first game but I didn't have the best of games.

"I've been getting loads of text messages and good-luck calls from friends back home.

"It's brilliant for us and it's some achievement. Now we want to make a bit of history for ourselves. We'll give everything to try to get to the final.

"No matter what happens all the boys will be going back to their clubs on a high.

"I just had the one beer after the game as we need to get ready for the semi-final.

"We will speak about the Czech Republic over the next couple of days."

Scotland coach TommyWilson was a Scottish Cup winner with St Mirren in 1987 and he admitted that adventure was nothing compared to his role in guiding his young guns to glory.

He said: "We were a bit shell-shocked after the Spain game but the players responded brilliantly.

"We are getting stronger and against Turkey our discipline, organisation and concentration was better.

"I couldn't believe it when our third goal went in and even though it wasn't over it was still unbelievable.

"When they scored their second goal it was hard as we knew we were either in the last four or ending up fourth and out of next year's World Cup, that's how close it was.

"The UEFA official asked us if we wanted to know the Spain score at the end and the way he sounded, we thought Portugal were winning.

"The cup final with St Mirren was a walk in the park in comparison to that as at least then I was playing."

Wilson has been bombarded with messages of good luck and revealed one call in particular was turning the Polish airwaves blue.

He said: "I am aware of how big an achievement it is and my phone has been red hot. I woke up in the morning and on the phone was John Murray the youth coach at Hearts.

"He likes the odd expletive. '******* brilliant', were the first words out of his mouth and that sums it up."

As the Scotland kids now ready themselves for the biggest match of their young careers, Wilson couldn't hide his pride at watching a host of big-name countries packing their hampers and heading home.

He even allowed his players to raise a glass to toast the success but stressed it was in moderation.

Wilson said: "To see teams of such quality drifting away is a great feeling. We've come through the hardest group so now anything is possible for us.

"We gave the boys a beer but it was all low-key as we don't want anything to detract from this. As far as we know, no bottles of vodka were smuggled in."

But the Tartan Army are raging at the lack of coverage back home by satellite giants Eurosport UK.

Aberdeen member Mark Fisher said: "It's been a joke. They all but ignored our 2-2 draw with Portugal, while they concentrated fully on Spain v Turkey.

"And on Sunday, minutes after Spain's 1-1 draw with Portugal, they still couldn't tell us the up-to-date score between Scotland and Turkey.

"If it had been England out in Poland it would b e an entirely different story."

Taken from the Daily Record