Source: FOOTYMAD
Young Scots falter
FF's match report from the Euro U21 Qualifier between Scotland and Azerbaijan at the Westfield Stadium, Falkirk. Scotland 2 (Maguire 32 Pen, Griffiths 67) Azerbaijan 2 (Hajiyev 13, Abdullayev 65)Attendance 2,793Scotland's Under-21's suffered a serious - but not fatal - setback in their bid to qualify from their UEFA Championship Qualifying group at Falkirk tonight, drawing 2-2 with Azerbaijan.The Scots went into tonight's game with the knowledge that they had already comprehensively defeated their opponents 4-0 in the away game earlier in the group, but the bitter cold of Westfield would prove to be light years removed from the heat of Baku.Ross Perry was the lone Ranger in the starting line-up, although Danny Wilson, Andrew Shinnie and Rory Loy were all on the bench.The home side started brightly, coming close to opening the scoring on at least three occasions - but when the goal did come it was at the other end in thirteen minutes with Nizami Hajiyev netting with a 25-yard shot that caught goalkeeper Alan Martin as it bobbled over his diving body.Chris Maguire equalised from the penalty spot after David Goodwillie's netbound header from a Maguire cross had been blocked with his hand by Akhundov Tural, who received a red card for his troubles.Facing opponents reduced to ten men for fully an hour, Scotland should have been able to capitalise - but somehow they were never able to dominate and the half ended all-square.The visitors packed their own half as the game wore on - but stunned the 2,793 crowd as well perhaps as themselves in 65 minutes when Araz Abdullayev netted from twenty yards with Martin apparently misjudging the flight of the ball.Scotland responded almost instantly - substitute Leigh Griffiths heading home a Maguire cross two minutes later.A linesman's flag denied Stephen McGinn in 85 minutes when he netted from a Perry flick - but the Watford forward was clearly onside.The final whistle sounded on a disappointing night for Scotland, who must now win their two remaining fixtures to be sure of qualifying.Afterwards Manager Billy Stark lamented:"Tonight was an opportunity missed. We didn't reach the heights of previous games. Azerbaijan were far better than in Baku. They got a lift from their first goal. I felt at half-time that we could do it, but we lost our shape in the second-half. We responded well to the loss of the second goal. We can still go through - we should have beaten Austria in our first meeting." SCOTLAND Martin (Leeds United); Caddis (Celtic), Easton (Burnley); Scobbie (Falkirk), Perry (Rangers), Coutts (Preston North End) [McGinn (Watford) 75]; Arfield (Falkirk), McDonald (Burnley), Maguire (Aberdeen), Goodwillie (Dundee United) [Griffiths (Dundee) 65], Murphy (Motherwell)UNUSED SUBS Gallacher (Rangers), Mitchell (Falkirk), Wilson (Rangers), Shinnie (Rangers), Loy (Rangers) AZERBAIJAN Aghayev (Inter Baku); Tural (Mughan), V. Huseynov (Gabala); T. Guliyev (Neftchi), Mirhuseyn (Neftchi) [N. Mammadov (Mughan) 36], Abdullayev (Neftchi) [Mustafayev (Gharabagh) 87], E. Guliyev (Neftchi) [Rahimov (Karvan) 78], J. Huseynov (Neftchi), Amirguliyev (Khazar-Lankaran), Guluzade (Neftchi), Hajiyev (Khazar-Lankaran)UNUSED SUBS A. Mammadov (Baki), Akhundov (Olimpik), Imamverdiyev (Karvan), Novruzov (Mughan) REFEREE Ken Henry Johnsen (Norway)
