Boss not blaming rookie keeper

Lima defeat: McLeish says Archer not wholly culpable despite howler

Alex McLeish sprang to the defence of debut keeper Jordan Archer following Scotland’s 2-0 defeat by Peru at the Estadio Nacional in Lima on Tuesday night.

The 25-year-old Millwall player was preferred to the other two uncapped goalkeepers in the squad, Scott Bain of Celtic and Hearts’ Jon McLaughlin, for the friendly game against a side who are going to the World Cup finals in Russia.

In a carnival atmosphere created by 40,000 exuberant locals, Archer made a couple of decent saves early on, But in the 36th minute, when he ran to the edge of the box to help skipper Charlie Mulgrew deal with a through ball, he only succeeded in slicing it to Jefferson Farfan. His shot was blocked by the hand of defender Scott McKenna for a spot kick converted by Christian Cueva.

Two minutes into the second half, Archer got a hand to Farfan’s closerange effort but failed to keep it out.

The hosts briefly threatened to turn the screw but the visitors steadied and at the end of the game McLeish had handed debuts to seven players – Archer, Stephen O’Donnell, Lewis Stevenson, Dylan McGeouch, Lewis Morgan, Graeme Shinnie and Chris Cadden.

However, the Scotland boss, who will turn his attention to the friendly against Mexico at the Azteca stadium on June 2, was not for apportioning all the blame for the loss to Archer.

He said: “Our goalkeeper felt that maybe he could have stayed at the first goal.

“But I wouldn’t blame him for the second goal because it was a shot from point-blank range from Farfan, very close to the goal and maybe our defenders could have done better. We believe the first goal was a big setback.

“We do have a lot of new players, a lot of players coming from the Scottish League, which has not been recognised as a good league but I was very proud of them”.

McLeish paid due respect to Ricardo Gareca’s side who are ranked 11th in the world and will be at their first World Cup finals in 36 years.

The former Scotland defender said: “They are at a better level than us, we have to be honest on that. “But I don’t think that is a secret. “I believe the Peru team’s management thought they could beat Scotland easily.

“Yes, maybe we had to do other things to try to get some kind of result but overall, the organisation of the team was good and the players’ concentration was good.

“Some players haven’t played at this level before but I do see a very good level in the Peru team.

“They have improved under the coach. These guys know each other, they have worked on movement for maybe the last two years and you could see the results of that.”

“I thought the defenders were very strong, very organised, didn’t make it easy for Peru. The second half, after the early goal, it gave them some more confidence to show their skills and at that moment in the game it was a bit difficult.

“We got over it and made a couple of chances in the end, but never really threatened the goal. But maybe if we did other things we could maybe have had a goal out of the game.”