Scotland’s under-16 side did the nation proud last Friday night when they captured the Sky Sports Victory Shield by defeating England 1-0 at Raith Rovers’ Stark’s Park.
Celtic striker Calvin Miller grabbed all the headlines as a result of scoring the all-important goal, however another Parkhead youngster stood strong in the Scottish defence to ensure that a 15 year wait for success in the four nation tournament was brought to an end.
A win in Northern Ireland and draw in Wales had set up the opportunity for Scott Booth’s side to grab their first outright triumph since the autumn of 1998, ironically the year in which the players in this team were born.
Only a draw was required, however Miller’s first half goal and the resolute defending of organiser supreme Daniel Higgins saw the job done in style.
Higgins was delighted with the success saying: “Playing in the 3 Sky Sports Victory Shield games was a terrific experience for me. It was great to be part of a team that did so well and I am proud to have played every minute of every game.”
“It all started for us over in Northern Ireland with a great win before we showed our fighting spirit by grabbing a late equaliser against Wales. That set up the game at Kirkcaldy with an England side that had won one game and lost one game. “
“Whilst they had a lot of the ball and moved it about well I thought we limited them to very few chances. We pressed them all over the pitch and no-one could grudge us the win.”
Higgins talked through the three game tournament saying: “The win in Ireland was important as it settled us down. Ali Coote from Dundee United scored a couple of great goals in that game. He is a great player on the left wing and he did well cutting in and grabbing those two before half time.”
“We moved onto Wales and that was a real challenge as we were winning 1-0 at half time and then found ourselves 2-1 down late on. My Celtic team-mate Theo Archibald came on as a substitute and managed to get us an equaliser when he knocked home a pass from Calvin in injury time.”
With England defeating Wales but losing to a Northern Ireland side that then lost to Wales, Scotland had the chance to win the Victory Shield outright.
No-one needed to tell Higgins what was at stake as he explained: “Ahead of the England game we were very aware that Scotland had not won the Victory Shield in 15 years. Rather than be worried by it we all thought how good it would be to change that record.”
Miller’s role as match-winner was no surprise to Higgins who said: “Calvin had a great tournament and was a great team-mate in that squad. Unfortunately I don’t see a lot of him at Celtic as he is in full time now and plays with the under-17’s.”
The SFA pulled a master-stroke on the eve of the game by giving the young squad some extra motivation with Higgins saying: “The backroom staff put together some film of our 18 months together as a side. They showed goals for and goals against and they also included the inches by inches speech from Al Pacino from the Any Given Sunday film. That really got us going.”
“The footage also included action from the 1998 game when Scotland last beat England and we went out thinking that we could end that 15 year wait for a win.”
The young Scots were following in famous footsteps with Higgins saying: “The 1998 team had Gary Caldwell, Darren Fletcher, Stephen McManus, Alan McGregor and John Rankin in it. It would be great if our squad could go on and do as well as the players in that squad did.”
“The last time Scotland won the tournament the game with England was played at Stark’s Park and this is the first time the game has been back there.”
As well as getting recognition for enhancing national pride Higgins and his team-mates did get one lasting souvenir from their success as the centre back explained: “You don’t actually get a medal for winning the Victory Shield but the SFA let us keep our jerseys from Friday night. That was pretty good as it was the new design ones we were wearing.”
The road to success in Fife and a treasured jersey had started 6 months ago for Higgins and his team mates as the centre back explained: “That Scotland squad first got together for a tournament in Italy back in May. However neither myself or the rest of the Celtic players were involved as we were playing in the Nike Cup.”
“We were included for a game against Poland in June before we headed off as a Scotland squad to a tournament in Russia. We got back together earlier this season and warmed up for the Victory Shield with a good win over Italy at Stirling Albion’s ground.”
Higgins is also gaining plenty of experience with his Celtic side as he said: “I also played with Celtic in a tournament across in Switzerland where we came fourth after losing to Zurich in a play-off. The annoying thing is that Rapid Vienna won it by beating Bayern Munich but we had beaten Rapid earlier in the tournament but Bayern had beaten us.”
“I first joined Celtic when I was 13 after being spotted playing for Barrhead United and I am now part of the players who attend St Ninian’s School and train at Lennoxtown during the week. We train mornings and after school so you could easily say that football is a huge part of my life.”
“I used to be a striker so I enjoy a goal but I have found myself further back the longer I have been with Celtic.”
There was not time for Higgins to sit back and enjoy Scotland’s success as he said: “There was no great resting period as both Mark Hill and I were back playing for Celtic on the Sunday afternoon. I played for the full game and we won 2-1. I scored so all in all it was a pretty decent weekend.”
Scotland’s victory has given Higgins a taste for success as he explained: “Having won this with Scotland so early in my career has given me great determination to win more. The dream is to become a full time professional and win trophies with my club and more honours at an international level.”
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