Winger Ryan Fraser netted the winning goal as Scotland’s U21s came from behind to beat Northern Ireland 2-1 in their opening Euro 2017 qualifier at Mourneview Park, Lurgan this afternoon.

Loanee Fraser sealed the three points in 61st minute, five minutes after the Northern Irish side, who are coached by former Blues boss Jim Magilton, had been reduced to 10 men following Dale Gorman’s second yellow card.

Fraser, 21, was winning his ninth U21 cap and the goal was his third at that level. Town's recently signed keeper Jonathan Henly was an unused subs.

Fraser was amongst those new coach Ricky Sbragia praised after the match: "I think there's a big future there for the likes of [Ryans] Christie, Gauld and Fraser.

"And the great thing is they play every week. Gauldy is exceptional because he's at Sporting [Lisbon].

"Christie has been fantastic in the way he's handled himself this week after moving to Celtic.

"He was really up for it today and I'm so pleased with the boys, coming from 1-0 down. They deserve great credit and we should have won by more.

"We recovered after losing a goal early on and started to open them up in the second half.

"We got a fantastic goal for the equaliser and we were exceptional at times. The three Ryans were excellent. They're all really good players - their movement and combination play was superb.”

Photo: Action Images

Bert added 19:37 - Sep 6 Just shows how good MM and the club is at getting decent players in . Proud to be a ITFC supporter
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Sospiri added 04:55 - Sep 7 Do you have to be called Ryan to play for Scotland under 21s? Seems a bit restrictive.
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