Hearts defender Lewis Neilson has withdrawn from the Scotland U21 squad after being forced off in a friendly against Northern Ireland.
The centre-back has filled in expertly at Tynecastle as manager Robbie Neilson juggles plenty of injury concerns in that area. Craig Halkett, Kye Rowles and Stephen Kingsley are all amongst those who have struggled with injury ,and Neilson sat down in the first half on Scotland youth duty, replaced by former Celtic youngster Ben Doak.
Liverpool's highly-rated youngster then scored on top of Josh Mulligan and Kieron Bowie goals, rendering Chris McKee's effort as nothing but a mere consolation. Neilson will hope to be back for Hearts when they take on Rangers at Tynecastle on September 1st. Speaking on the win against Northern Ireland, U21s boss Scot Gemmill said: "There were good things and there were things that we know we need to correct. So there was a bit of everything.
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"The new players needed to take their opportunities because there are no guarantees in the future and I told them that before the game. They had to show what they can do.
"They have to go and show they can be trusted and are willing to do the work and I thought their application was good.
"Of course, there were things in the game that we need to fix and we can help them with and we will."
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