Support wanted for Scottish youngsters

Tommy Craig, the Scotland Under-21 coach, has called on the Tartan Army to back his raw recruits for their European Championship quarter- final second leg against Hungary in two weeks' time.

Craig is looking for a sell-out 16,000 crowd for the match at Easter Road after a creditable 2-1 defeat in Budapest on Tuesday, which puts them in with an excellent chance of reaching the last four. He feels that prize can be achieved if the famous Scottish support rallies behind his team on 26 March the way they have done for the full international side over the decades.

"We saw in Budapest, where there 15,000 hostile fans, how important the public are," he said. "The response of their crowd was remarkable and it lifted the Hungarian boys.

"The Scottish public have shown in the past that when they get the opportunity, they are virtually unrivalled. These kids will appreciate the kind of support the Scottish fans can give - and they deserve it for what they have done for their country."

The young Scots have struggled to attract more than 5,000 spectators to their recent under-21 games but the last big crowd to come out at this level, a sell-out 24,000 four years ago in Aberdeen for the quarter-final against Germany, was rewarded with a thrilling 4-3 win and a place in the semi-final and Craig is hoping history repeats itself.

The Scots' coach added: "The tie is still very much alive. We only need a 1-0 win to go through on away goals and we managed to come from behind twice against Russia in the qualifying group but at Easter Road we will have 90 minutes to get the goal we require."

Craig feels that his side benefited in Budapest from the presence of Craig Brown, the Scotland manager, who was monitoring the progress of players such as the Celtic pair Simon Donnelly and Jackie McNamara and Aberdeen's Stephen Glass, scorer of the vital away goal, with a view to promoting them to the full international squad for Euro 96.