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Scotland Under-21s coach Scot Gemmill bemoaned the loss of the late firsthalf goal in the 2-0 defeat by Ukraine at McDiarmid Park.

The home side arguably edged the first 45 minutes of the 2019 European Championship qualifier but on the stroke of half time they found themselves behind when Ukraine striker Andriy Boryachuk scored from close range.

The visitors took control of the game in the second half and could have added to their lead several times but had to wait until injury time and Scotland chasing the game before adding a second through Viktor Kovalenko.

After drawing 1-1 at home to Latvia on Friday, Scotland dropped into

“To give away the goal in the manner we did was crucial”

fourth place in Group 4 with seven points from five games, six behind leaders England and one behind Holland and Ukraine, whom they have still to play again, as well as a double-header against Andorra.

Gemmill was left frustrated after failing to reach the interval level in Perth.

He said: “I didn’t think there was a lot in the game. Ukraine were a really high level, good team.

“You have to ignore the last goal because we were pushing to get the equaliser.

“I’d rather we lost 2-0 throwing everything to get the equaliser than lose 1-0 thinking we hadn’t pushed harder.

“The first goal was the one. It was just about the players having that consciousness and experience about them to know it’s half time and we’d done great to contain Ukraine.

“We arguably had chances in the first half but to give away the goal in the manner we did, with it ricocheting around the box, was crucial in the game.

“Ukraine at times played really good one-touch football. They played through the lines and their shape was really flexible.

“It was really high level stuff but they didn’t score from that.

“That is a big regret in terms of at worst it should have been 0-0.

“If we can contain them in general play when they’re playing as well as they can it does make it even harder when you concede a goal in that manner.”

Despite yet another setback, Gemmill remains confident of qualification chances.

He said: “It’s a tight group and it’s in the bal- ance. There are a lot of really good games to come in 2018.

“We have still got to play Andorra twice and it’ll be really crucial to try to take maximum points in those games and then try to come up with some top performances against the higher seeds in the group.”