BILLY Gilmour has expressed confidence that playing alongside Scott McTominay at Napoli on a weekly basis will help him to improve as a footballer and benefit Scotland in future as he looked forward to starting the latest chapter of his career over in Italy.
Gilmour and McTominay spearheaded the spirited second half fightback which the national team staged during their opening Nations League match against Poland at a packed Hampden on Thursday evening.
The former made it 2-1 shortly after half-time when he scored his first goal at the Mount Florida venue while the latter levelled the Group A1 encounter when he netted with 14 minutes of regulation time remaining.
The duo's endeavours ultimately proved in vain - the penalty that Nicola Zalewski netted in the seventh minute of injury-time after he had been needlessly brought down by Grant Hanley meant the visitors won 3-2.
It was a desperately disappointing end to a game which Scotland, seeking to get the pain of the Euro 2024 finals in Germany this summer out of their system, could and really should have taken something from.
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However, the displays of Gilmour and McTominay, who both struggled to perform to the high level they are capable of back in June, in the middle of the park were hugely positive.
The Scots joined Serie A giants Napoli in the final days of the transfer window last month and the former Rangers, Chelsea and Brighton man is eagerly anticipating playing abroad with his compatriot in the months ahead.
“I'm excited,” he said. “It’s new challenge, a new culture. I'm looking forward to that. I've just got beaten with Scotland so it's a bit disappointing and hard to think about that right now.
“But it will definitely help me with Scott being out there too. Scott is a good mate. So both of us out there can hopefully try to progress and get better.
“I spoke to a couple of the boys who are over in Italy. We've got some in the squad here as well so I spoke to them. They said it's a very good league and I'm looking forward to it. As I say, I'm excited.”
He fully expects his former Norwich City team mate to establish himself as a regular starter there now that Celtic captain Callum McGregor has retired from international football.
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“Kenny helped me during my time at Norwich and was very good with me,” he said. “Kenny's a top player. When Callum was still here there was a lot of competition in the midfield. And even now there's still competition with Conor Barron coming in. But there's a lot of chances to go and show the manager what we're capable of.”
“Kenny's a top player. He's been in here, he's done it, he does it at his club every week. When he comes onto the pitch and when he starts he always gives 100 per cent. You could see in his performances how good he was last night”
Gilmour argued that, despite the reverse which Scotland ended up being on the receiving end of as they returned to action after the Euros, there were some encouraging signs during the Poland game.
He certainly felt that debutants Ben Doak and Ryan Gauld acquitted themselves well when they came on during the second half and is interested to see what they can now contribute in the difficult fixture with Portugal in Lisbon tomorrow evening.
“It was a tough one to take,” he said. “We felt in the first half as well we were good in spells. But I think we came out after half-time and showed what we're capable of. We'll reflect on it. We've got another tough game coming up. But it's a disappointing one to take.
“Yes, there were a couple of mistakes that led to the goals but we'll look back at that as a team, look at where we could have been better. I think it's a tough one to take right now because we felt like we controlled the game in spells to come away. Getting beat is disappointing.”
“I'm obviously happy with the goal. But we got beat so it's maybe not the best thing to think about too much. I'm happy with the goal, but, ultimately, the result is the most important thing.
“But I think we all gave a good account of ourselves on the pitch. We played well and the result was down to some silly mistakes from ourselves. We'll watch that back and we'll get better.
“Poland is a top team and we've got another tough game coming up against Portugal. We'll regroup. We've been in this position before and we believe in ourselves to go and win the next game.
“We were disappointed with the way we went out but I think in the games there was good stuff as well. Of course we're not happy. We wanted to progress in group stages and that is the next step for us.
“We've got really good players on the team. They are all different. Ben Doak is a rapid winger and Ryan Gauld is similar and does it all over MLS every week. For them to come in freshens things up. So we're all excited to see what Portugal game holds.”
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