Kieron Bowie in Hibs injury sweat as Scot Gemmill admits only dampner during Scotland Under 21 stroll

Scot Gemmill praised his Scotland Under 21 kids after a Maltese stroll on the Mediterranean island set them up for a do-or-die clash with Belgium next month.

The young Scots were two goals up inside the opening nine minutes after an own goal and then a Dane Murray header before Josh Mulligan added to the first half lead. Motherwell talent Lennon Miller grabbed a goal and two assists with Lewis Neilson also netting with the young Scots far too good for their hosts in their National Stadium.

Scot Gemmill's side now have two games left and are second - level on points with Belgium, who they face at Tynecastle, but have a better head-to-head record. A win or draw against the Belgians would see them go to Kazakhstan in the final game knowing victory in Almaty would give them a highly probably chance of being one of the three best runners-up - which would send them to their first Finals since 1996, in Slovakia next year - or they would face a play-off.

The only downside to Scotland's easy win was a hamstring injury to Hibs striker Kieron Bowie. Gemmill said: "It's not as easy as people think to come to these type of places where they are doing everything they can to stop you and the pitch isn't quite as good as it should be and it's hot and humid.

"But it's a great experience for the players and hopefully some of them will experience it for the full squad. It's brilliant we can look forward to the Belgium match. I've just said to the players to go back to the club and keep pushing. It was great to see the players scoring goals although I thought we were fortunate to keep a clean sheet to be honest.

"On another night we might have easily conceded and that's something we need to look at because we have been solid defensively