SAFEWAY UNDER-19 INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE MATCH
Scotland 2 (Beattie 2 {48, 85}) Switzerland 1 (Vonlanthen 41)
Scotland came from behind to overcome Switzerland 2-1 in the Safeway Under-19 International Friendly at Dumbarton last night.
It was very much a game of two halves with the elements playing a significant part in the way the game developed. There were two Rangers¹ players in the Scots line-up, Chris McLeod and Tom Brighton.
Harnessing the wind and driving rain, it was the visitors who threatened in the opening stages with Xavier Margairaz twice testing Scots¹ goalkeeper Keiron Renton in the opening six minutes.
Blackburn¹s Renton was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers, and in 24 minutes he was called into action again on this occasion blocking Caryl Righetti¹s close-range effort.
Scotland had scarcely crossed the halfway line in the opening half-hour, but twice within a couple of minutes William Kinniburgh came close from Steven Whittaker corners.
Just when it appeared that the Scots had survived the twin onslaught of wind and opposition, Switzerland opened the scoring in 41 minutes when McLeod was dispossessed by David Marazzi, the Lausanne youngster feeding Johan Vonlanthen who netted with a delightful chip.
It was a different story after the restart with Scotland levelling matters in 48 minutes when Craig Beattie converted a Robbie Foy opening.
Two minutes later Kinniburgh¹s volley from a Scott Morrison free-kick was inches too high as the home side went all out for the lead.
Chris McLeod redeemed himself at the other end in 58 minutes when his last-ditch tackle denied Vonlanthen.
Both Paul Lawson and Andrew Barrowman came close in the closing stages, as the Scots appeared to be finishing the stronger but Margairaz almost snatched the lead with six minutes remaining on the clock when his drive was parried by Renton, the rebound falling to Cedric Tsimba who sliced his effort over the bar.
That miss was to prove costly sixty seconds later Craig Beattie¹s low drive from twenty yards found the corner of the net.
The game finished with a flurry of yellow cards as a friendly match degenerated into a bad-tempered affair.
SCOTLAND Renton; Harding (Barrowman 75), Morrison; Kinniburgh, McLeod, Sweeney (Fagan 64); Whittaker (Law 75), Lawson, Beattie, Foy, Brighton (Thomson 71) UNUSED SUBS Samson
SWITZERLAND Leoni, Lichsteiner, Getaz (Pont 73); Gandolfo, Maric, Marazzi (Pascariello 82); Margairaz, Righetti, Tsimba, Schweiger, Vonlanthen UNUSED SUBS Favre, Tonn
REFEREE Charlie Richmond