it is hard to tell how long Billy Stark spends agonising over which goalkeepers to include in his squads.
The Scotland under-21 manager rarely has too much to go on given that it is seldom that any are given regular game time by their clubs. He is likely required to become creative when it comes to assembling a dossier on his goalkeepers as a result.
Grant Adam has been Stark’s favoured choice of late, although a dearth of competitive outings had engendered a few inauspicious performances for his country. His arrest last week on suspicion of an alleged sectarian breach of the peace provided Stark with a legitimate reason for giving Adam the night off in the European Championship qualifier against the Netherlands on Monday should he have been looking for one. He maintains the Rangers youngster’s departure from the squad was down simply to football matters, though.
On that basis it was inevitable that Mark Ridgers, who has been a regular for East Fife this season since signing on loan from Hearts, will replace the 20-year-old against the Dutch. The goalkeeper has yet to be capped at this level but he has already gained a relatively haughty reputation after saving three penalties to help knock Aberdeen out of the Scottish Communities League Cup earlier in the campaign.
“The goalkeeping situation during my time has always been a bit fraught by the very nature that clubs don’t play young goalkeepers,” said Stark. “So in a positive sense it’s good we have Mark playing for East Fife’s first team. He’s had good publicity by saving penalties and he saved one last Saturday as well. You could argue he’s in better shape to play the game than Grant might have been.”
Ridgers is likely to be one of the busier members for the young Scots on Monday but Stark will be heartened by the return of James Forrest. The Celtic winger has been recalled to the under-21s as a qualifier in the Netherlands was deemed more important than a friendly in Cyprus with the senior side. However, Stark is wary of focusing too heavily on his young prodigy.
“He’s one of our best players and he’s shown he can handle stepping up into the senior squad, which is tremendous,” he said. “But I’m a bit wary of heaping everything on to James as the only guy who represents Scotland as that’s not fair on him or the others. If he’s to play well it’s because a lot of other players are doing their job.”
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