SCOTLAND coach Craig Brown talked yesterday of how Liverpool striker Michael Owen had predicted a bright international future for young Scot Alex
Notman of Manchester United.
Brown's comments came as Scotland under-21 coach Alex Smith prepared his side for tonight's vital European championship qualifying tie against
Belgium at Love Street.
Brown said: ''I spoke to Michael Owen at a reception at Buckingham Palace and asked him if there were any good young Scottish players around and the name he came up with was Alex Notman.
''I have also spoken to Tommy Docherty who mentioned to me that he rates young Gary Mason of Manchester City.''
Both Brown and Smith believe the current crop of under-21 players are finally capturing the imagination of the Scottish public and they expect a good attendance at tonight's game.
Certainly Smith and Brown will be hoping that the lights don't go out tonight as the youngsters attempt to keep their European championship qualifying campaign on track.
Last month the Scots went down 2-0 to Belgium in Ghent on an evening when the floodlights failed and the match was delayed by 22 minutes.
That defeat was a blow to Smith's team which had started their campaign with a no-score draw against Lithuania in Vilnius.
They followed that up with a
2-0 win over Estonia, with the goals coming from Craig Dargo of Raith Rovers and Paul Dalglish of Newcastle, who misses tonight's match through injury.
This time round Smith will be looking to Celtic's Mark Burchill, Dargo and Notman to provide the firepower to take them to a
victory which would leave them level on points with the Belgians in the group.
There are suggestions that Newcastle manager Ruud Gullit will be at Love Street tonight for the game to cast an eye over Burchill.
Despite the individual talent in the Scottish side they still have an uphill battle to qualify. Belgium deserved their home win last time out and Scotland still have two games against group favourites the Czech Republic coming up.
However it is clear that interest in Scotland's under-21 qualifying campaign is growing as the squad includes players like Burchill, Barry Ferguson and Dalglish in its ranks.
However, one player who is certain to have a bit of a nervy 90 minutes is Hearts' 20-year-old defender Gary Naysmith, the most experienced player in the side with 13 caps.
The player's girlfriend, Gillian, is expecting their first child and he has been given clearance to leave the squad if she goes into labour on the morning of the game.
In the middle of the park for Scotland much of the responsibility will fall on captain Grant Brebner, of Reading, who is likely to be joined in the engine room by Stuart Campbell of Leicester and Craig Easton of Dundee United.
Team coach Smith believes his predecessor, Tommy Craig, will have mixed feelings if the new wave of talent he set in motion can record a victory this evening.
Smith admits that if a positive result can be achieved the credit must be shared with Craig, whose resignation because of club
commitments at Newcastle
followed an unhappy 18-month run without a win.
Part of that sequence was prompted by Craig's decision, backed by senior-team manager Brown, to experiment with
players well below the age limit in a bid to build experience for this current campaign, a scheme which both men felt was
worthwhile.
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