Red, White and Bleu

[ian1964 10,411]

RANGERS' defender Ross Perry has been in excellent form for Billy Kirkwood's under-19s this season and the towering defender is hoping to test his skills to the limit tonight when Scotland face France at the country's world-famous training and development facility at Clairefontaine.

 

Ross is one of five Murray Park kids to be selected for the glamour friendly with Danny Wilson, Stephen Stirling, Gregg Wylde and Grant Adam the others who have travelled across the English Channel this week.

 

Jamie Ness was also selected initially but will miss out due to injury.

 

The game will be a useful exercise for Billy Stark's U19s as they prepare for their European Championship Elite Group qualifying games against Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and England in May and June.

 

Having already progressed through a qualifying group consisting of Hungary, Azerbaijan and San Marino at the tail end of 2008 the Elite Group stage represents a far greater challenge with the team finishing top moving on to the final tournament in Ukraine in July.

 

Tonight's opponents France are regarded by many to be one of the best European football has to offer at U19 level and they showed their potential by taking nine points from their three qualifying matches against Northern Ireland, Malta and Liechtenstein, scoring nine goals and not conceding in the process.

 

Ross has been on the bench for recent internationals but would love to pit his wits against Les Bleus.

 

He said: "I am really looking forward to the game at Clairefontaine and hopefully I will be involved.

 

"I have not played in France before and it will be a great test for all of us.

 

"We played against Holland recently and that was a fantastic experience even although we lost quite heavily.

 

"To be fair I don't think we played to our best on that occasion, we were perhaps taken by surprise just how good they were.

 

"But as a player you want to come up against the best teams in Europe and France are right up there. This time we know what to expect and will try to put on a good show.

 

"The main thing is that we try to take as much from the game as possible and getting a good result would boost our confidence ahead of our Elite Group games coming up in May." Ross Perry, Rangers

 

Ross is delighted that five players from Murray Park are involved in the national set-up and believes it highlights the quality of youngsters coming through the ranks at Auchenhowie.

 

He said: "It's always good to see a group from your team being picked for Scotland as it shows we are doing well at Rangers and this is being noticed.

 

"Obviously we are still in the running for a domestic double so when this is the case I suppose you expect a few of the boys from Murray Park to be selected and it's great to see familiar faces when you travel.

 

"But in general I think we have a very strong bunch of players in the Scotland U19 squad this season.

 

"A few of the lads are playing first-team football already so I think we do have the potential to reach the finals in the Ukraine later in the year.

 

"We have a tough Elite Group to get through first but hopefully we can do well there.

 

"The England game will be a really big one although I don't have good memories of the last time I came up against them.

 

"I scored an own goal so hopefully nothing like that will happen this time around.

 

"As I say it will be tough to qualify but we have to believe we can do it."

[CammyF 6,781]

Ross Perry was a guest at our RSC POTY Dance a few years back and the big lad was a credit to himself, his family and his club. Given that he spent a lot of time at our event and has remained in contact with the club, we have, as a club, taken great delight in the fact that Ross has developed into a great player and one who has a great future in the game (and hopefully with our club).

 

Cammy F

[Norris Cole 0]

I look forward to seeing some of these names in the first-team set-up in the not too distant future.