Glenn Middleton is already impressing on loan at Hibernian from Scottish Premiership rivals Rangers and his Scotland U21 form isn’t bad either.
Scott Gemmill has singled out Glenn Middleton for praise after the Rangers winger came off the bench to help Scotland U21’s complete a stunning turnaround away at Croatia on Tuesday night, speaking to the Evening Times.
Scotland were a goal down in the blinking of an eye thanks to a strike from Dinamo Zagreb striker Sandro Kulenovic and they were left staring down the barrel of defeat with just ten minutes to go.
So Gemmill had little choice but to turn to his bench, bringing on Middleton and Connor McLennan in a desperate attempt to avoid defeat in just the second game of Scotland’s Euro U21 qualifying campaign.
Minutes later, Middleton produced a glorious cross which McLennan tapped home before the Aberdeen forward repeated the trick in the 89th minute to seal a dramatic, and unexpected, U-turn. No wonder Gemmill was thrilled as his roll of the dice paid off.
“Both Connor and Glenn came on and made the difference,” Gemmill said. “To beat a Pot One team away from home is a really top achievement.
“To play a team like Croatia away and go a goal down and still have that resilience and belief and intelligence to keep executing the game plan. It was a really mature performance.”
The international break should do wonders for Middleton’s confidence. The 19-year-old scored his first Scotland U21 goal in a 2-0 win at San Marino last week before helping to stun Croatia in their own backyard.
The winger fell out of favour at Rangers over the summer but he already has two assists in three games since joining Hibernian on loan.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
