Billy Gilmour sees Brighton blanks land telling off from dad but Scotland pass master predicts goals will flow

Billy Gilmour reckons his first ever professional goal is close - and he’d love it to arrive against England on Tuesday.

The Scotland playmaker has hit top form for Brighton and admits bulging the net from the edge of the box was his trademark as a kid. He's netted at youth levels for Scotland. But he’s still waiting for his first professional goal after 90 top team appearances including 19 for his country.

That duck was almost broken against Newcastle last weekend when his thundering drive was spilled by Nick Pope and tapped home by Evan Ferguson. And Gilmour, who was involved in all three Brighton goals against the Magpies, insists that elusive first strike is just around the corner.

The 22-year-old said: “I’m still waiting for it .. it’s coming! Two weeks ago against West Ham I came off the pitch and my dad said: ‘How many times? Do you want to just take a chance and shoot!’ So going into the game against Newcastle the first time the ball was bouncing I checked back and thought I just need to shoot here. It ended up in an an assist.

“Hopefully it will come soon. The most important bit is just trying to get a result and trying to help the team for sure.

“It used to be my trademark when I was growing up, edge of the box, hitting it first time, and it would go in. But since I’ve been first team I’ve just never scored a goal. Hopefully I can change that!”

Gilmour’s Scotland career took flight after he was thrown in for a first start against England at Wembley at Euro 2020 just days after he turned 20.

And he reckons Steve Clarke’s side have improved again since that first major championships in 23 years with the likes of Aaron Hickey, Lewis Ferguson and Ryan Porteous now emerging as regulars.

He said: “We have a lot of