FRENCHMAKEU21S PAYWITHLATEGOALS
their section by controlling long spells in the first half, but their attempts to equalise were aided by opponents who were careless in possession and unconvincing defensively.
THE second half started with Scotland again defending furiously. But they carved out an opening in the 54th minute when Anya teed up McLean for a shot in the Czech area which he fired wide from an acute angle.
Strachan made his first two changes of the game four minutes later. He took off Andy Robertson and McLean and put on Barry Bannan and Matt Phillips respectively. The replacements made an immediate im- pact. Scotland performed with greater confidence with them involved.
Snodgrass moved infield behind McCormack when his manager made his double substitution. He is, not surprisingly after such a lengthy lay off, still not operating at his previous level, but can be pleased with his contribution here.
Both Scotland and the Czechs had appeals for penalties waved away by Irish referee Paul Mclaughlin.
Watt and Paul Caddis both made their debuts for the national team from the bench towards the end.
They will have benefited from being involved in Prague as will Scotland. SCOTLAND UNDER-21s were outdone by two late goals in Angers, but only the heroics of Jack Hamilton, the young Hearts goalkeeper, kept the scoreline respectable against a French team who oozed quality.
Ricky Sbragia’s side are all but out of the European Championships after the halfway stage, but they looked like they might snatch an unlikely point at the Stade Jean-Bouin after holding out for 69 minutes, before they conceded two goals in five minutes.
Despite near total domination, the French couldn’t find a way past an inspired display by the Tynecastle back-up goalkeeper, who made save after save. But he was finally outdone by two goals from Utrecht striker Sebastien Haller.
Sbragia said: “They have awesome pace, power and technical ability and that is what we were up against but my players gave their all. It’s very difficult against such a talented side and we had our keeper Jack Hamilton to thank for keeping us in it.
“He made some fantastic saves and when they opened us up we were grateful that he was on form. Now we look to the game on Tuesday against Northern Ireland and we need to get a win, there’s no doubt about that. We have got to still believe we have a chance.”