Stark tells his players to disregard the fear factor

Billy Stark has told his Scotland under-21 players they must show no fear when they take on Bulgaria tonight.

He knows his youngsters will face a tough challenge in their opening UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying match in Paisley, but Stark believes his young Scots are more than capable of matching a nation with a good footballing pedigree.

He said: “We are going to find ourselves up against a really tough outfit.”

“They have good size and athleticism, they are resolute and tough, with some pretty gifted players and that’s a good mix to have. But we can’t be frightened of the challenge.”

“I think you have to stand up and say ‘They are good opposition but let’s show them how we can play.’ We have to show that confidence on the pitch.”

Scotland missed out at the play-off stages last time around, when they lost 4-2 over two legs to Iceland.

And Stark stressed the importance of a positive start to this new campaign.

He said: “If you look at league campaigns, you always think that a good start is important but you know there is plenty of time to recover.”

“At under-21 level in these championships, there is not the same margin for error. We need a good start, a good middle and a good end.”.

“We know it’s a difficult competition to qualify for and the last group did us proud. We just hope this one can emulate them and maybe go a step further.”

The Scots head into the game boosted by a 3-0 friendly win over Norway last month.

“If we had lost the game but performed well in a number of areas we would still have had a degree of optimism coming out of it.

“When you get a result as well, and I think it was deserved, then we can only take positives from that and hopefully build on it.”