Cairney won’t be fazed by facing Netherlands

TOM Cairney is one Scotland Under-21 player who will not be intimidated when he faces a talented young Dutch side in tonight’s European Championship qualifier in Nijmegen.

The midfielder broke into the Hull side as a teenager when they were a Barclays Premier League team, making his league debut against Wolves in January 2010.

The Tigers have dropped into the Championship since but Cairney, 20, speaking prior to the trip to Holland – where the hosts have won their first three Group 10 games and are hot favourites to qualify as winners – is determined to get back to the top flight.

“It was an amazing period,” he said. “I was up against players like Lampard, Terry, Ballack and Tevez. You were standing next to them in the tunnel and thinking ‘I played on FIFA [game] against you a few years ago, I shouldn’t be stood here beside you right now’.”

Despite speaking with an English accent, Nottingham-born Cairney was quick to polish his Caledonian credentials.

“My dad is Scottish, he is from Uddingston, while my mum is English,” he said. “My dad always had me in the Scotland kit, and we would come up and see my family in Scotland every summer during the holidays.”

The young Scots have lost ground, with home draws to Bulgaria and Austria either side of an anticipated win in Luxembourg. However, Cairney is confident that Billy Stark’s side can cause an upset against the strongly-fancied Dutch.

“It probably looks the hardest game in the group,” he said. “They are expected to win the group, but I feel we have enough talent in the squad to make an impact. Hopefully, we can turn them over on their own patch.”