SCOTLAND Under-21 coach Billy Stark hailed man-of-the match Steven Fletcher for helping defeat Slovenia last night – but admits he will happily be without him for a crunch final qualifier next week.
The Hibernian striker scored his first goals of the season as Stark's side eased to a 3-1 victory at the Falkirk Stadium, their fifth competitive win in a row.
Fletcher was dropped from George Burley's senior squad for the opening World Cup qualif
iers in Macedonia and Iceland, but proved a point to the watching boss with an impressive display. Burley could now draft Fletcher back into his plans for the trip to Iceland on Wednesday, meaning he would miss the young Scots' make-or-break visit to Denmark a day previous.
But Stark, the former Celtic and Aberdeen midfielder, would be more than happy to lose the 21-year-old. He said: "Steven made a massive contribution for us. We were pretty confident that he would do that so we move on to the last game now.
"I don't know Steven's position for Denmark now, even though I know there has been speculation about it. The same thing applies. The international full squad is way above anything else in terms of importance. If Fletch has done enough to get himself back in the squad, then we're delighted.
"We have to constantly have that mentality. If you do that, then it's not a massive disappointment. He's come in and played an integral part in winning the game. I was delighted with that and if George decides to take him with him for the Iceland game, then all good and well, we are delighted for him.
"We have players that have been able to step in."
Stark's team have gone to the top of Group Six, a point ahead of Finland, but the Finns have two games left – starting against Denmark tonight – to Scotland's one. Even if Scotland don't top the group they will go into a play-off for next summer's finals in Sweden. The 10 group winners and four best runners-up will play for seven places while the hosts will take the eighth spot.
Stark watched his side fly out of the traps against Slovenia, with Fletcher netting after just 58 seconds . Ross McCormack slipped a neat pass into Fletcher on the edge of the area and the marksman drilled a left-footed shot across Udinese goalkeeper Jan Koprivec and into the bottom corner.
Garry Kenneth added a second before the break. Unlucky to see his header hit the post, the Tannadice player was then fortunate to see the ball ricochet back across goal and leave him an easy tap-in. Despite a Slovenian counter through Tim Matavz, Fletcher's header sealed it for the Scots, with even Charlie Mulgrew missing a late penalty.
Stark, who succeeded previous manager Maurice Malpas in January, admitted it was an enjoyable night and hopes his charges can now push for one final effort in Scandinavia.
The 51-year-old added: "It probably couldn't have gone much better. The big part for me was getting the good start and getting the goal early. You can never legislate for that.
"I thought we would have to keep probing to get the breakthrough goal, so get to it early was a big lift for everybody.
"The theme throughout has been going into a big pressure game, knowing they have to win and they've done it."
The only negative for Stark was a booking for Aberdeen defender Andrew Considine that rules him out of the final fixture.
Scotland U21: MacDonald, Cuthbert, Considine, Kenneth, Wallace, Arfield, McDonald (Robertson 88), Lennon (Hamill 78), Mulgrew, McCormack, Fletcher (Elliot 88). Subs not used: McLean, Stevenson, Reynolds, Campbell. Booked: Considine.
Slovenia U21: Koprivec (Rozman 32), Salkic, Apatic, Elsner, Rajcevic, Korun, Mihelic, Viler (Trifkovic 79), Matavz, Pecnik, Velikonja. Subs not used: Omladic, Tolimir, Mijatovic, Bezjak, Plut. Booked: Elsner.
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