Source: FOOTYMAD
Hanlon Does Not Want To Be Disappointed This Time Around
Scotland prepare for Under 21 European Championship qualifiers today when they play Norway at New St Mirren Park (kick-off 4pm) Paul Hanlon needs only to look back on the disappointment of the last European Under 21 Championships qualifying campaign to be encouraged to improve this time around. Hanlon was a member of the squad which suffered a play-off loss to Iceland last October, which meant Billy Stark's men missed out in being involved in this summer's tournament in Denmark. The Hibs defender believes this afternoon's friendly with Norway at New St Mirren Park (the new home of the Under 21s) is ideal preparation for the forthcoming European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Austria and Holland. Hanlon said: "It's a long campaign and I was involved the whole way through the last time. It was a great experience and we played a lot of good teams, did well to top the group and then narrowly missed out when we were beaten by Iceland. It was disappointing we didn't qualify but it makes you more determined for this one. I think we've got quite a tough group, but it's not out of our reach by any means. It's near enough a whole new squad this year, so games like this against Norway we just need to gel together as quickly as we can. We need everyone to know what we're doing throughout the whole campaign." Hanlon is the only survivor from the starting line-up against Iceland last October in Stark's 20-man squad for tonight's game, while only three other members of the squad were involved in the game that day. Hanlon is the most experienced of the group of players, with 12 under-21 caps in his collection, and has previously captained the squad as well as wearing the armband at Hibs.Although there were a number of late changes to the squad this week Hanlon believes Scotland have a strong group. He added: "There are a few players not here at this meeting just now, but the squad as a whole is looking good. There's a lot of players who have got a lot of first-team football under their belt - the more players playing first-team football for us the better. Every Scandinavian side is tough to beat. They're always big strong lads, well organised and good football players as well. I think it will be a tough game, but we've got to really focus on ourselves."
