Pars Flying High

The two Gregs selected for Scotland duty, Adam Hammill and Jim O'Brien called upon for international duty.

Dunfermline players will be spread across the world next week with international calls for Greg Ross, Greg Paterson, Souleymane Bamba, Jim O'Brien and Adam Hammill. While Adam has to do with a trip to Doncaster where England's U19s will face Turkey on Wednesday 21st March, Greg Paterson gets a trip to Holland with the Scotland U19 squad and Greg Ross flies off to Canada with the Scotland Under 20s.

Greg Ross will gain first hand experience of their FIFA U20 World Cup base, taking in two internationals against the hosts Canada.

The Under 20s will kick off their section in the World Cup in Victoria on 1st July against Japan and then meet Nigeria before moving to Burnaby, on Canada's west coast to play Costa Rica on 7th July. As part of their preparation for the big event, they meet Canada in Burnaby on Saturday 24 March, and again in Victoria three days later.

The team fly out next Wednesday from Glasgow to Vancouver, giving them three days to acclimatise before their first match, at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. They then head for Vancouver Island for the second match at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria on Tuesday, and return to Scotland on Wednesday.

Archie Knox is taking a Scotland Under 19 team to play against the Netherlands, giving an opportunity for some of Scotland's most promising youngsters to stake a claim for further international recognition. Dunfermline goalkeeper Greg Paterson (17) takes the place of Dundee's Scott Murray in the squad that will play a friendly at Sportpark de Zwaaier in Werkendam on Friday 23 March, kick-off 7.00 pm. The other keeper in the squad is Alan Martin from Motherwell.

It will give the team a change to prepare for the UEFA Under 19 championship qualifiers at the end of May, when Scotland will host a group against Turkey, Georgia and Portugal.

Republic of Ireland Under-21 manager Don Givens has included Jim O'Brien in his 17-man squad for the international friendly match against the Netherlands at the Stadium De Koel in Venlo on Tuesday, 27th March (kick-off 8pm).