Young Scots come of age in Poland

SCOTLAND U19 - 1
CZECH REPUBLIC - 0

CALUM Elliot sent Scotland's Under-19 side marching into the European Championship final with a golden winner to beat the Czech Republic in Poland last night.

The Hearts striker picked the perfect moment to grab his first goal of the tournament just seconds into the second half to put Archie Gemmill's players through to a dream final against Spain on Saturday.

Spain defeated the Scots 4-0 earlier in the tournament, and eased past Austria 5-0 in yesterday's other semi-final, but that didn't halt the celebrations last night after the Czechs were given a good grilling in the searing heat of Grodzisk.

It is the first time since 1982 that a Scottish side has reached the final of the competition and it was richly deserved after a polished performance in the intense atmosphere.

The only setbacks for the final are the suspensions of strikers Steven Fletcher and Robert Snodgrass who collected yellow cards last night, but, make no mistake, Gemmill's side fully merited their triumph.

The team knew exactly what was at stake and raced out of the blocks. Indeed, they should have led inside 100 seconds after Elliot's reverse pass released Fletcher in the box.

However, Scotland's talisman, normally so reliable in that situation, was betrayed by a poor first touch and the ball rolled into the arms of grateful Czech keeper Radek Petr.

Things got worse for Fletcher moments later when referee Herve Piccirillo decided to book him for diving, when he simply seemed to stumble through a challenge from defender Jan Simunek.

The player looked disconsolately to the heavens after seeing the yellow card as, with 85 minutes of the contest still to go, he knew he wouldn't be playing in Saturday's final regardless of the outcome due to suspension.

Considering this was a semi-final, it was hugely open and mightily entertaining as chances flowed at either end.

But surprisingly, after all the action, the opening period ended goalless.

The match was there for the taking after the interval, but Fletcher didn't reappear after a head knock sustained just before half-time prevented him from continuing. Robert Snodgrass deputised.

It mattered not. The Livingston man's first act was to win a foul which Scott Cuthbert swept to the far post for the head of Jamie Adams. The defender's header back across goal was met by Elliot who nodded home via the inside of Petr's right-hand post from six yards to spark wild celebrations just two minutes into the second-half.

Scotland had enjoyed the better of the game and had placed their noses in front, but the Czechs, naturally, upped their efforts as they set about hauling themselves level. Gemmill's men were thus offered counter-attacking opportunities but most importantly they kept their composure at the back to thwart the Czech fightback.

The overly fussy Piccirillo couldn't keep out of the limelight and ended Snodgrass's tournament with a booking, but a late miss from Czech sub Ivan Hasek ensured a final date for the Scots.

Scotland: McNeil, Cave-Brown, Wallace, Cuthbert, Ferry, Elliot, Fletcher (Snodgrass 46), McGlinchey, Conroy (Dorrans 87), Cameron (Kenneth 78), Adams. Subs not used: Fox, Gilmour, Reynolds.

Czech Republic: Petr, Donalek, Pavlic, Svec, Simunek, Mazuch (Hasek 73), Jungr, Fenin, Mares (Jeslinek 78), Janda, Strestik. Subs not used: Frydrych, Blazek, Kudela.

Taken from the Scotsman