Billy Stark insists his Scotland Under-21 side's European U21 Championship hopes are far from finished following a vital victory at Pittodrie.The young Scots defeated Group Six leaders Finland 2-1 on Wednesday thanks to a sensational late goal from Kevin McDonald to give renewed hope to their ambitions of reaching the finals in Sweden in 2009.

Third-placed Scotland are now five points behind the previously unbeaten Finns, with Denmark sandwiched in between, but Stark's side still have a game in hand over their rivals.

Stark admitted a defeat would have left his team out of the running and therefore was overjoyed with the final outcome.

"Obviously I am delighted with the result, it goes without saying," said Stark.

"I was asked before the game if we had to win it and of course you do, as I think they have won five out of five.

"If they had taken it tonight then it certainly would have put us out of the equation and probably Denmark as well."

Scotland took the lead in the 29th minute when Scott Arfield and Jamie Hamill orchestrated a smart free-kick, which presented Steven Naismith with the opportunity to drive the ball past Finland keeper Tomi Maanoja via a deflection.

But the visitors equalised through a fantastic strike from their most impressive player, Kasper Hamalainen, and Stark believes that setback left his players psychologically damaged.

He said: "We got the breakthrough with the set-piece, which was a great lift, but equally when they got the equalising goal it was very deflating for us.

"I think we suffered a bit in our play because of that.

"It was a fantastic finish but the lead up to it was pretty poor from our point of view, to leave that space in the middle of the pitch for somebody to step into and build the move.

"We all felt it was a goal we conceded cheaply after working so hard to get in front and that meant we did suffer psychological damage."

Scotland subsequently struggled to impose themselves against a powerful Finland side, but with eight minutes remaining McDonald produced a moment of magic to win the game for his country.

The Dundee midfielder brought down a perfectly flighted free-kick from Ross McCormack before lashing a half-volley high into the net.

It was a sensational effort, produced thanks to some terrific teamwork, and Stark praised the players involved for their skill and intelligent play.

He said: "I don't think we could really say we were in the ascendancy and the game was poised to go either way.

"It was a piece of quick thinking from Ross McCormack to strike the free-kick.

"First of all Graham Dorrans has made a forward run off the point of the free-kick and Steven Naismith has tried to get through between the centre-halves.

"That gave Ross a bit of room to see the pass to Kevin.

"It was a great quality of ball from Ross, a great first touch and a fantastic finish.

"Everything about that from the dead ball was right out of the top drawer."

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