ALMOST a year ago to the day, David Turnbull sat in a hotel room in Edinburgh with a few of his Scotland Under-21 team mates watching the national team play Serbia in the Euro 2020 play-final in Belgrade on television and cheering on his countrymen.

And as Steve Clarke’s boys ended a 23 year wait to qualify for the finals of a major tournament with a dramatic play-off victory, he wondered if he would ever be able to force his way into the senior set-up in future.

Fast forward 12 months and the Celtic playmaker is in the squad and has, in the absence of Ryan Christie, Ryan Fraser and Lyndon Dykes, an excellent chance of being involved in a match of similar magnitude on Friday night.

Turnbull, in fine form both at home and abroad with his club side, is certainly keen to feature in the Qatar 2022 qualifier against Moldova in Chisinau on Friday night and help clinch a World Cup play-off spot with a win.

“It was a good night that,” he said as he looked back on the Serbia match. “I was away with the under-21s at that point and me and a few of the boys sat in one of our rooms and watched it. We had had a game that afternoon.

“Lewis Ferguson was one of them. We were actually speaking about whether there was an opportunity there for us. We said ‘we will just need to wait and see what happens’. I am not sure that any of us thought we would. To get the opportunity to be in the squad after that has been great.

“The first time I got called up was in the summer and at that stage it was just about trying to get to know the boys. All the boys have been brilliant with me. Just to get picked was a big thing. Every camp since has been about pushing on and now I feel more part of the squad. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

“At Celtic, I’ve established myself. It took a while, but I got there in the end. Now it’s about working as hard as I can here with Scotland and waiting for my chance. Hopefully, I can take it whenever it comes. That’s what I’m looking to do.

“I’m feeling confident. My form has been good and so has the team’s. It’s just about bringing that in here with the national team and doing everything I can in the training leading up to these games so I can try to push myself in there.

“It’s obviously the manager’s decision who plays, but I know I’ll be ready if called upon. It’s obviously a shame the boys can’t make it due to whatever it is. But it gives other boys in the squad a chance, whether that’s me or anyone else, to go take their opportunity.”

Turnbull, who has played against the Netherlands, Denmark and Moldova since being called up by Clarke for the first time earlier this year, may not have been involved in a Scotland game of such importance before.

However, he knows that many of his team mates have and thinks the experience they have gained will prove invaluable in the Zimbru Stadium

Speaking from the La Finca Resort in Spain, the plush hotel and training complex in Alicante where the national team got their preparations for the Euro 2020 finals underway in the summer, he said: “The squad has got used to it.

“I think we have developed the ability to handle pressure. We have stepped up at huge moments in the last few years. In the previous games as well. We have had huge games we needed to get results in and we have. It is about doing that again and dealing with the pressure.

“As soon as all the lads met up you could see everybody was excited. Training has been great. You could sense the feel-good factor. Everybody is looking forward to these games (Scotland play Denmark at Hampden on Monday). The first one on Friday is the one holding our focus at the moment. Everyone is raring to go.”

Moldova have picked up just a point from their eight Group F matches – they drew with fellow minnows the Faroe Islands at home in their opening fixture back in March – but Turnbull stressed that every Scotland player is taking them seriously.

Andy Robertson and his team mates endured a nervous evening against the bottom-placed team in the section at Hampden back in September despite dominating possession and creating a raft of scoring chances and only triumphed 1-0 at the end of the 90 minutes.

They also needed a Lyndon Dykes goal with four minutes of regulation time remaining to beat the Faroes in Torshavn last month.  

“Every international game is tough,” said Turnbull. “Every game in Europe, no matter what level the opposition are, is tough. Teams always give 100 per cent. Usually they are decent enough at playing football as well.

“We know how hard it is going to be. They showed at Hampden how much of a test it is going to be. It is about combatting their style and going and getting a result.

“It is a massive game. We have been brilliant in the last few years at dealing with big pressure games. It is just about taking that mindset into this game and performing at the level we have been.

“Obviously we qualified for the Euros in the summer. That is what everybody wants to be in. We want to play in major tournaments. It is about trying to get that right and qualify for even more. We want more of what we had in the summer.”