Aberdeen’s Devlin proud of ‘dream come true’ with Scotland debut

Nicky Devlin’s Scotland debut may have been brief but it was eventful, with the defender making a vital contribution in a hard fought 0-0 draw with Portugal at Hampden.

The Aberdeen right-back replaced Anthony Ralston after 89 minutes at Hampden and soon after his introduction made a great block to keep out a shot from Rafael Leao.

“It is probably a dream come true,” said the 30-year-old.

“I understand, probably for millions of people, that’s their dream, and I managed to get on tonight and make mine come true.

“So a proud moment for me and all my family. I was a bit apprehensive in terms of, you don’t want to come on and concede a goal late.

“You have to focus on doing your job, do the job the way you’ve been doing it. That’s what got you to this point.”

On his crucial intervention to deny the AC Milan winger, Devlin said: “I wasn’t sure if I was tucked in too much and maybe that’s why he had a wee bit of space.

“But you’ve got to just fling your body at it.

“For the last two games, the defence, the whole team, have made a lot of blocks, Craig Gordon has made a few big saves.

“So you kind of just want to do your part and hopefully I managed to do that.”