Stark talks up Mackay-Steven as more than a trick specialist

Billy Stark laughed off the suggestion that the inclusion of Gary Mackay-Steven in his Scotland Under-21 squad for next week’s game against the Netherlands was down to the Dundee United player’s recent emergence as a YouTube favourite.

The former Liverpool youngster, 21, caught the imagination of the nation last week when he outfoxed St Johnstone defender Dave Mackay with an outrageous piece of trickery in the 5-1 Clydesdale Bank Premier League win at McDiarmid Park.

However, Stark insists he has been watching Mackay-Steven for months before deciding to call him up for the first time for the Under-21 European championship qualifier at St Mirren Park. “Call us boring coaches,” said Stark. “It was great to see it but if you pick somebody thinking they are going to do that every time..... it is a one in a hundred or whatever situation. It was fantastic and for me the great part of that was the confidence to do that. Hopefully he can carry that confidence into a Scotland shirt.

“But I have watched Gary over the last three or four months and I made my mind up before the turn of the year. He is quick, positive and direct. Since then he has actually gone up a level in terms of his impact during a game, he has become a very important player for Dundee United and deserves to be in.”

Another new face is Bolton’s Michael O’Halloran, another striker who excites Stark.

“He was at Celtic as a boy until 15 or 16 and went to Bolton,” he said. “We have kept an eye on him and had him in the Under-19s once or twice. He is a quick striker, who is well-rated down there.”

Scotland beat the Dutch 2-1 in Nijmegen in November and, after four matches played, they are one point behind in the race to lead Group 10. Stark knows that fans may expect a similar result in Paisley but he insists the visitors will be favourites.

“I am not going to try to be a wet blanket,” he said. “But I think people will recognise that it is fair for me to point out that Holland are still the favourites.

“They play the same way home or away. They will attack and try to dominate the ball and it will be difficult to repeat that (result) because we have lost the element of surprise. Good teams respond when they get a setback and I expect them to respond so anything below that level of performance in Holland from us will not be good enough.”

Squad: Goalkeepers: Jordan Archer (Tottenham), Marc McCallum (Dundee United), Mark Ridgers (Hearts). Defenders: Darren Cole (Rangers), Paul Hanlon (Hibernian), Ryan Jack (Aberdeen), Ross Perry (Rangers), Lewis Toshney (Celtic), Daniel Wilson (Liverpool). Midfielders: Scott Allan (West Bromwich Albion), Stuart Armstrong (Dundee United), Thomas Cairney (Hull), Liam Kelly (Kilmarnock), Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday), David Wotherspoon (Hibernian). Forwards: Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United), Michael O’Halloran (Bolton), Peter Pawlett (Aberdeen), Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield), Johnathon Russell (Dundee United), Gregg Wylde (Rangers).