McCrorie hoping to impress Scotland boss McLeish

Published 14th Sep 2018

Rangers midfielder Ross McCrorie hopes to become the latest youngster to catch the eye of Scotland boss Alex McLeish. McCrorie played a pivotal role for Scot Gemmill's Under-21s on Tuesday night as they claimed an impressive 2-1 win in Holland.

It is a victory which keeps the young Scots' hopes of qualifying for next year's European Championships alive.

But McCrorie is also keeping his fingers crossed that his efforts have not gone unnoticed by McLeish as he looks to make his full international breakthrough.

He told RangersTV: You look at the start of the campaign, we had players like Oli McBurnie and John Souttar (playing for the Under-21s), and recently they have been breaking in (to the full team) so there is always a pathway for the boys.

The Scotland manager is always watching you.''

McCrorie was given the captain's armband for last week's 3-0 win over Andorra at Tynecastle and again led out the side as they stunned the Dutch on their own patch.

And it was an honour which left the 20-year-old beaming with pride.

He said: It was great for me and a privilege and an honour to be named as the captain of the Under-21s, and that's me been the captain of all the age groups I have been involved in for Scotland.

That topped it off, and I was extremely happy with it. We obviously got the results to go with it too, especially in the second game.

We were looking for the two victories as it keeps us right in among it for qualifying.

Andorra were hard to break down and had the full team behind the ball, but we got there eventually. We played some good combinations and used the width of the pitch quite a lot, and that worked well for us.

Then in Holland, the boys were different class. Holland are a great team, but that's us beaten them twice now. We beat them last year in Paisley in the same competition and then beat them again. It just shows the talent we have in our team.

We have big games coming up against Ukraine and England, and we maybe need a few favours from other teams, but if we can go and get the two victories, then I think we will be pretty safe.''