Scot Gemmill pleased to see Ross McCrorie flourish at Aberdeen
The Scotland under-21 boss says he's not surprised to see his captain doing so well at club level
Scot Gemmill is pleased but not surprised that Ross McCrorie has hit the ground running at Aberdeen.
The Scotland Under-21s captain has been a huge success at Pittodrie since signing from Rangers in the summer.
McCrorie, 22, who can play in midfield and defence, has flourished with regular football.
Ahead of Scotland Under-21s' European Championship qualifier against the Czech Republic at Tynecastle on Friday, boss Gemmill admitted he was "absolutely'' happy to see it.
He said: "I think anyone who's worked with Ross knows he's got that side to his character, to his personality, where he's very professional, very mature for his age.
"If you trace him back with national youth teams, he's been captain, I think, of all the age groups, 16, 17, 19 and now 21s so he's definitely capable of handling that responsibility.
"He's not the kind of character to get too up when he's doing well or too down when he's not doing well, which I think is a huge part of the young players' development.
"So, no surprise to see that he's doing so well but everyone is delighted for him and want to continue.''
Gemmill, who will monitor Dons midfielder Lewis Ferguson who has a thigh issue, will continue to take advantage of McCrorie's abilty to play in several positions.
He said: "When we beat Holland away Ross played in the middle of the pitch with Allan Campbell and Stevie Mallen, I think.
"So Ross has played a lot of positions for us as he did in his development at Rangers.
"I can remember when I first used to go and start watching Ross play at Rangers' training ground, he played right-back and centre-back.
"He very rarely played in midfield at that stage. I think even played left-back a few times as well, so it is part of a player's development,
"I think it works to Ross' advantage that he can play different positions but the most important thing is that his manager trusts him to do that and we certainly do with the national team.''
The young Scots have 11 points from six matches and will go within a point of Group 4 leaders Czech Republic with a victory in Gorgie.
Gemmill said: "We were speaking about development of players and obviously whilst we're doing that we try to be as competitive as possible.
"The performances have been strong, on the whole, and is definitely going to be a really tough game on Friday against Czech Republic.
"The game in the Czech Republic last October (0-0) was really tight, they could have scored, we could have scored - two really well-organised teams.
"So it will be a another real great opportunity for our players to play against top opposition which, again, is what this group is all about.''