Scotland 0 Republic of Ireland 2 (Kilbane 8, Morrison 16)
Attendance 33,337
Scotland were comprehensively defeated 2-0 by the Republic of Ireland in tonight's Safeway International Challenge Match at Hampden tonight.
There are 0-2 defeats and there are 0-2 defeats - this was a humiliation as Scotland were utterly outplayed by an Irish side under new management.
A healthy attendance of 33,337 could only look on in disbelief as the hapless Scots singularly failed to make any kind of impact on the game. Not even the poor state of the pitch could be offered as an excuse for this apology of a display.
A large contingent of Irish supporters included a large number of Scots/Irish Celtic supporters, struggling with an identity crisis. Throughout the game these people sickened all sportsmen with pro-IRA propaganda. Booed consistently by these bigots were both Barry Ferguson and Neil McCann, underlining the sick mind of the Royston Irish CSC.
The Republic struck early - a Stephen Reid free-kick being headed home by Kevin Kilbane in eight minutes with Scots' goalkeeper Neil Sullivan - a surprise
selection in most people's eyes - badly positioned.
Scotland's confidence visibly sagged with the loss of that goal - and the home side's position worsened considerably in sixteen minutes when Mark Kinsella's
lob was weakly punched out by Sullivan, Clinton Morrison's twenty-yard volley from the rebound finding the net.
It was a shocking goal for the Tottenham goalkeeper to lose, and even this early there seemed no way back for Scotland.
The home side managed to put their opponents under some pressure in the latter stages of the half, but could not fashion a shot on target. Indeed the closest effort fell to Barry Ferguson whose header from Neil McCann's cross landed on the top of the net just on the stroke of half-time.
It was no surprise when Scotland Coach Berti Vogts replaced Neil Sullivan at the interval - Paul Gallacher substituting. Also replaced was Don Hutchison and Captain Paul Lambert, the skipper's armband falling to Barry Ferguson.
Sixty seconds in it was almost 3-0 when Morrison's twenty-yard shot on the turn was inches over, then eight minutes later Carr's 25-yard effort was touched over by Paul Gallacher.
Vogts made another triple substitution midway through the second-half, Steven Thompson being introduced and both Barry Ferguson and Neil McCann departing. Christian Dailly took over as captain, the third of the night.
Scotland could make no impact on the game - the Irish content to play within themselves and play out time. Indeed Gallacher again denied Carr on the final
whistle, holding a fifteen-yard volley.
The final whistle brought a crescendo of booing down from a disillusioned crowd.
Manager Berti Vogts afterwards denied that the display had been a setback:
"We made mistakes, which let the Irish grow in confidence. We must change our preparation for the qualifier against Iceland. Our second-half display
will beat Iceland."
After this whitewash, who is Berti kidding?
SCOTLAND Sullivan (Gallacher 45); Anderson, Naysmith; Caldwell, Dailly, Ferguson (Cameron 64); Alexander, Crawford (Thompson 64), Hutchison (Devlin 45), Lambert (Gemmill 45), McCann (Smith 64)
UNUSED SUBS Miller, Dobie, Kyle, McNamara, Alexander, Malcolm
REPUBLIC of IRELAND Kiely (Colgan 81); Carr, Harte; O'Shea (Dunne 81), Breen (O'Brien 89), Holland; Reid (Carsley 76), Kinsella (Healy 76), Doherty (Connolly 73), Morrison, Kilbane
UNUSED SUBS Maybury, McPhail, Barrett
REFEREE Eric Braamhaar (Holland)