Scott Gemmill reckons Billy Gilmour was harshly sent off as the Chelsea star made his return to action.
The teenager has been on the sidelines since July after an injury whilst on the domestic scene with Chelsea. He’s now battled back from a torn meniscus and was called up to the Scotland U21s side to get him some minutes.
He was a 60th minute substitute as the young Scots battled from 2-0 down to gain a 2-2 draw with Croatia.
The away team had taken a decent lead in 25 first-half minutes before Bruno Sousa was sent off, Glenn Middleton got one back and Connor McLennan leveled.
With Gilmour introduced, Gemmill’s team were in control, but the Chelsea youngster lasted 12 minutes as he was sent off for allegedly saying something to the ref. A match that was played at a remarkable speed petered out from this point with each team at 10 men.
Gemmill has analysed the match and explained why he thinks Gilmour’s red was harsh.
“Billy admits he swore but he didn’t swear directly at the ref,” said Gemmill. “The ref took it out of context. It’s obviously an extremely harsh sending off but it’s another learning curve for him. He’s playing at an incredible level for his club.
“We know referees know are not consistent but they can be very sensitive too. The rulebook says you can’t swear at the ref but I have to defend my player he didn’t mean to swear directly at the ref he was annoyed at the foul.
“There was a big reaction at half-time. We knew we were playing a top team and they’d start fast. If you add in we conceded as many in the first half as we have in the previous eight games then our players were rocked and it was like they’d been punched in the face.
“But you challenge them to react. We did that in Croatia so we knew we could do it but it’s a big test in these conditions. I was absolutely delighted.”