Scotland’s u-17 side qualified for a semi-final tie against Holland at the European Championships in Malta thanks to a 3-1 win over Switzerland.
Sam Wardrop, Jack Breslin, Joe Thomson, Aidan Nesbitt and Calvin Miller were all in the starting line up for a match in which a draw would be good enough to ensure a place in the last four of the competition.
That point started to look under threat when Dimitri Oberlin put the Swiss into the lead midway through the first half but three goals within 20 minutes of the restart from Craig Wighton, Jake Sheppard and Ryan Hardie turned the game Scotland’s way.
Earlier in the day Holland had topped Group A thanks to a 2-0 win over England who will face Portugal in the other semi-final.
After the match Scotland coach Scot Gemmill said: “At half-time I reminded the players we‘d come back in the past. It was more important to change our system to solve the problems we were having. Credit to our players for executing our second game plan.
“The first one wasn’t working because the Swiss gave us lots of problems, then we gave them the problems. That showed the mentality of the group, because they are very focused. They know this is a brilliant opportunity
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“With about eight minutes of the first half to go I looked at the clock; I was trying to get to half-time at 1-0 because I knew we were in a lot of trouble and I knew I wanted to reorganise the team.
“The Swiss were being allowed to play the ball into our defensive area too easily, and we needed to retain possession better – the two forwards helped us do that. I watched the Dutch game against England and I thought they were fantastic.”
Portugal made it three wins out of three in Group B by beating Germany 1-0, both semi finals will be on Sunday the same day as Celtic play Ayr United at Somerset Park (k-o 2pm) Â in the final of the u-19 SPFL League Cup.