Celtic midfielder David Turnbull has never seen Scotland qualify for a major tournament at Under-21 level, which only adds to his determination to help his nation go one step closer at Tynecastle tonight.
After a 1-0 win in Lithuania thanks to a goal from his former Motherwell midfield partner Allan Campbell, Turnbull and his Under-21 teammates find themselves in with a chance of ending that qualification drought.
Speaking ahead of the clash with table-toppers Czech Republic, the 21-year-old said: “There’s a lot riding on Friday night for us as players. The manager speaks at length about our ability to carry out the game plan and if we can play to our full potential and execute everything we’ve worked on, then there’s no reason we can’t close that gap to one point between us and Czech Republic.
“It’s been a special year or so for me personally and I just hope I can build on it. It’s been strange without any supporters at the games and obviously it’s going to be the same on Friday night too.
“The support of the fans plays a big part but it’s something we’ve had to get used to for now and we can’t allow any of that to affect us as players at club level or for country.
“It’s a cliché, but you really can’t afford to get too high when things are going well or too low when things are going bad.
“Now, it’s about continuing that hard work for club and country. We’ve worked hard this week in training and believe we can go in to Friday and get a result, but we know just how big a test that will be.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
