Scotland 0 Norway 2 (Grindheim 41, Eriksen 74)
Attendance 3,014
Scotland’s hopes of progress in the UEFA Under-21
Championship lie in ruins following tonight’s 0-2
defeat at the hands of Norway at Broadwood.
The Scots had drawn their opening fixture in the
group, 1-1 against Slovenia at Perth last month,
whilst Norway had lost their opening two games against
Belarus and Italy, but tonight the Scandinavians were
the better side by quite some distance.
A crowd of 3,014 saw a home side containing Rangers’
goalkeeper Graeme Smith fielded behind former ‘Ger
Andy Dowie.
The Norwegians looked the more accomplished side from
the opening minutes, their use of the ball being
superior to that of their opponents, although Simon
Lappin did test goalkeeper Jan Larsen with a curling
twenty-yard free-kick in the 21st minute.
The opening goal should have fallen to Norway in 34
minutes when Bjorn Riise, in the shadow of the
crossbar, somehow fired over from a Daniel Holm pass.
The opening goal was merely delayed however – and it
was the Norwegian youngsters who deservedly found the
net in 41 minutes when Christian Grindheim played a
one-two with Riise before rifling a twenty-yard drive
into the net.
The balance of play remained very much in favour of
the visitors as play restarted following the interval
– Smith holding Lars Strand’s low 22-yard drive in 53
minutes.
The Ibrox goalkeeper again came to the rescue twice
inside sixty seconds – firstly in 72 minutes when
substitute Trond Bertelsen was clean through from a
Kristofer Haestad pass, only to see his effort
blocked, and again the same combination were similarly
denied one minute later.
The resultant Grindheim corner however found the
unmarked Eriksen whose header was clearly over the
line before being cleared, and at 2-0 the Norwegians
were home and dry.
Scotland were fortunate not to be reduced to ten men
three minutes later when Celtic’s Ross Wallace
blatantly kicked Strand off the ball, yet received
only a yellow card from Finnish referee Jari
Maisonlahti.
Coach Rainer Bonhof was clearly disappointed as he
summarised:
“I am disappointed about the performance. I haven’t
seen my team playing so badly. We created few chances.
A win in Moldova on Tuesday is a must. We still have a
chance – one good result can be the breakthrough.”
SCOTLAND Smith; Dowie, Lappin; Whittaker, Robertson,
Wilson; Foy (McCunnie 54), Wallace, O’Connor, Fagan
(Clarkson 69), Boyd
UNUSED SUBS Brown, Kinniburgh, Dillon, Morrison,
Prunty
NORWAY Larsen; Skjonsberg, Onstad; Engedal, Eriksen,
Riise; Grindheim, Haestad, Holm, Strand (Sokolowski
88), Markegard (Bertelsen 59)
UNUSED SUBS Austbo, Ruud, Moster, Moen, Hoas
REFEREE Jari Maisonlahti (Finland)