Tony Watt added to his growing reputation with a goal for Scotland’s u-21 side as they lost 3-2 in Austria last night.
The Austrians took the lead in the first half but that was cancelled out shortly after the break by Watt with Johny Russell putting Scotland in front in the 73st minute.
Scotland held the lead for sixty seconds with an injury time strike from Holzhauser killing off any hope of reaching the last 16 of the competition.
At the start of the competition 17-year-old Watt hadn’t been capped at any level and wasn’t included in the first squad of the season to face Belgium in a friendly.
A late call-up gave the young Celt his first u-21 cap with his first goal coming against Luxembourg last week in a 3-0 win.
Speaking before last night’s match u-21 boss Billy Stark said: “Tony has been consistent with the chances he’s had so far this season and he’s a great weapon to have. He’s scored a lot of goals at the younger levels and a lot of that was to do with his power and physique
“I have been impressed with his finishing technique. The one at Inverness is typical of him in that he runs from halfway but I saw him in the Next Gen series last year and in both games against Man City he was outstanding. Against Barcelona at Celtic Park he scored a great goal.”
Watt is still eligible to play at u-19 level with five of his Celtic team-mates playing for Scotland at that level last night against Holland.
Marcus Fraser, Stuart Findlay and Joe Chalmers formed three quarters of the back four with John Herron starting the match in midfield before being replaced by Jamie Lindsay.
Alex Davey scored the Scotland goal as Mark Watte’s team lost 2-1 to the Dutch.
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Disappointing but half expected result from the 21s….We don’t have a good record in Austria (From memory) but poor to lose a goal so quickly having taken the lead. While this can happen to any sides, especially youngsters, I’d have thought Stark and his backroom staff would have ensured the team were focussed properly from the re-start, the old adage about it being the most dangerous time.
Great to see that Tony Watt has again hit the net though.
Re the 19s….reports we were passed off the park by a slick moving Dutch side are a little discouraging. I’d like to think we had moved on from the old cavalry charge punt & run methods.