Mark Beck on his Scotland call-up
Striker Mark Beck heads off to team up with the Scotland U21 squad next week as they go into back-to-back games against Slovakia and Georgia as part of the hotly-contested European Championship qualifiers.
We caught up with him on Tuesday evening to get his reaction to his latest call-up.
“It is nice to know that I’ve been recognised at that level again,” he said. “I think it helped that Billy Stark got a good look at me when I went to join them the last time so I’m looking forward to going back there to have another go.”
“I didn’t really have any clue that I was going to be called up,” he told us. “I did know that Billy wanted to come and watch me again because he’d been in touch to ask if we had any games coming up that he could watch.
“I told him that I was playing last Saturday and I think he’d planned to come and watch the game anyway, because there were some lads from Notts County he wanted to see. I don’t think that made me expect anything but you do hope that it will lead to something.”
“It definitely gives your confidence a boost when you find out you’ve been selected,” he admitted. “Having been involved with the U19 and U21 squads before I think I am getting used to what’s expected as well. It’s slightly different this time because we play a home game against Slovakia before we fly off to Georgia.
“It’ll be nice to play at home, for a change, and I think it’s good that it’s a double header. We get two games under our belts fairly quickly. It’s a bit of a trek out to Georgia but I’m looking forward to it.”
“It was Kav who told me about the call-up,” he said. “He was really pleased for me but he had a joke about the fact it was going to complicate things for the Morecambe game. I’m sure that will sort itself out though.”
“My aim is to get some pitch time, if I can,” he revealed. “I want to show everyone what I can do at that level and it’s another new experience for me. I think I’ve said before, there’s a lot of pride involved as well.
“It’s my granddad who has the Scottish link and he is really proud of the fact that I’m representing Scotland. Hopefully it’ll go well and we’ll get some good results.”
