BA B ES TA K E THE 5TH
UNDER-19S SCOTS WOE Euro agony goes on after penalty howler
IT was yet another hard luck story for Scotland Under-19s as their Euro hopes were killed off by a dodgy penalty.
But unfortunately for Ricky Sbragia and his side, the real tale of woe is they failed to register a shot on target – and crashed out for the fifth year on the spin at Elite Round level.
The Scots battled away admirably in Zlin and no one would have begrudged them a 0-0 draw.
The penalty award by Luxembourg ref Laurent Kopriwa was ridiculous and cruel on Sbragia’s youngsters. But the harsh reality is that in both group games – they lost 3-0 to Austria on Wednesday – they paid the price for lacking any threat in attack.
Sbragia said: “Frustration is an understatement.
“We get nothing, absolutely nothing.
“That’s a penalty? My God. Their player was actually laughing at the decision.
“We’ve conceded three penalties in two games but there’s no point in talking to the refs here. They don’t listen to you.
“And there was no point speaking to the fourth official – it was him who gave the two penalties for Austria on Wednesday!
“I feel really sorry for the players because they gave their all and were tactically decent. I don’t mind losing games, I don’t get uptight about it.
“But when you give everything and end up losing because of one person it’s incredibly annoying.
“It always seems to be against Scotland and I don’t know why. Their players’ favourite word is ‘aaahhh’. They shout that when they go down. Maybe we’re too honest.”
A few Scots offered some hope for the future – Stoke defender Harry Souttar, Manchester United’s Ethan Hamilton, Kilmarnock’s Iain Wilson and Dundee United kid Scott Allardice. And out wide Celtic’s Mikey Johnston looks like a star in the making.
But when Allardice was sent off with 13 minutes left for a late tackle, the writing was on the wall.
Celtic full-back Anthony Ralston barely breathed on winger Denis Granecni as he went down in the box and sub Ondrej Sasinka tucked the spot-kick away.
SCOTLAND: Doohan, Ralston, McCrorie, Porteous, Gallacher, Wilson, Hamilton, Allardice, Johnston, Preston (Burt), O’Hara (Shaw).