Don't hype up my young talents, says proud Billy Stark

Billy Stark cautioned against labelling his Scotland Under-21 side as the great hopes for the future despite their progression to tomorrow's European Championship play-off draw.

Scotland defeated Austria 2-1 at Pittodrie on Tuesday to go through to next month's two-legged play-offs, where victory would see Stark's men qualify for next summer's eight-team tournament in Denmark.

Stark said: "We can't get carried away. One thing doesn't make a bad team, one thing doesn't make a good team. They've done well in this qualifying campaign. We might not do well in the play-offs - that's the nature of football - but it won't be through lack of effort or lack of application. I keep preaching a realism and I think that's the sensible thing to do. We have to realise we're no superpower."

Aberdeen striker Chris Maguire scored an 89th-minute winner on his home ground to send Scotland through as Group 10 winners, courtesy of a better head-to-head record than Belarus. The qualification means Scotland are among the top 15 teams in Europe - 14 play-off teams, plus hosts Denmark, who qualify automatically - and Stark hopes his side can give the country a timely boost. But he maintained his young charges, who were yesterday named as one of seven seeds for the draw, must back up their qualifying campaign in the knockout phase next month. He added: "If people see Scotland in the later stages of a competition, that helps to get us respect."

The play-offs are scheduled for between 9 and 13 October in the international break which sees Craig Levein's senior side take on Czech Republic away (8 October) and Spain at home (12 October).