However Clarke might not have expected him to be named man of the match so soon but after the 0-0 draw in which Gilmour, who has just turned 20, impressed in midfield, that was the award bestowed on him by UEFA and the player said he felt prepared to play well. He discovered his selection quite late on.‘I was ready, I trained with the squad, all the boys have helped me settle in really well,’ said Gilmour after the game. ‘To play against England in my first game, I’m so proud and to come here and do really well was even better.‘I found out in training before we travelled down, we had a slight idea, we were doing shape and set-pieces but it wasn’t until the last meeting before the game we found out the team.‘Playing for my country I’m so proud, against England as well at Wembley. It’s massive.‘It was a great performance by the full team. We dug in really deep. We came with a game plan, stuck to it, and did it really well.’

Gilmour played 11 times for Chelsea last season, at a level which will have helped convince former Blues defender and coach Clarke that he could field the player in such a high-profile game.‘I don’t think there is any element of risk when you have a player of Billy Gilmour’s talent,’ said Clarke following the match. ‘When you put him on the pitch you expect him to do what he did which was to get a hold of the ball for us, make us play through the midfield. So I didn’t feel it was a risk.‘The balance of the rest of the team has got to be right to support Billy and I think we got that right. You have to look at the team performance as well, a lot of players supported him getting through 75 minutes of his first start‘It was nice for Billy to get that start, a big platform, a big stage, a big player. I have said for a long time that he will be part of the future of Scottish football. We try to manage him properly, keep a lid on things and performances like that will do him no harm whatsoever.’