Scotland can stun Dutch, insists Rhodes

Jordan Rhodes insists Scotland's Under-21s must show no fear when they take on Group 10 leaders Netherlands next month as they bid to kickstart their European Championship qualifying campaign.

Scotland twice came back from a goal down to draw 2-2 with Austria in Paisley on Monday night, a second draw at home leaving them with five points from their opening three matches.

Next up are the Dutch, who have raced to the top of the section with a 100 per cent record and host Billy Stark's side on 14 November.

Victory would haul Scotland right back into contention and Rhodes sees no reason why they cannot compete.

He said: "We saw little bits of the clip of Austria playing Holland and Austria put up a really good fight, they took them right to the death and Holland only won 1-0. They are not machines, they are not invincible.

"We will try our best and we will go into the game with a positive mindset and have good character like we showed against Austria. Hopefully it will get us a result and we can take it from there."

Rhodes scored twice against Austria to cancel out goals from Andreas Weimann and Deni Alar, but the Scots were unable to find the winner on a wet and windy night at St Mirren Park.

The Huddersfield striker said: "I thought we played well in parts of the game and we moved the ball around well in what were difficult conditions at times. To go behind twice and equalise both times showed great determination character. On the whole, a point was the least that we d eserved."

On his own contribution, Rhodes added: "It's nice when they go in. There is no better feeling for any striker. But it wasn't about who got them, it was about getting the ball in the net."

Rhodes netted a hat-trick in last Thursday's emphatic 5-1 win in Luxembourg but was unable to claim the match ball on this occasion, although he believes he was denied at least one decent penalty claim by the referee.

He said: "For the first one, I was impeded from behind, which was more clear cut than the second one.

"I think if the referee has a look at it he might decide that he made the wrong decision. On the night, he didn't give it. It's one of those things and we move on. When the score was at 0-0 I also missed a couple of chances that on another day I would have liked to put in the net. Unfortunately it just wasn't to be."