Careless kids pay a heavy penalty
SCOTLAND skipper Adam King missed a penalty as Scotland blew a glorious chance to get their Elite Group off to the perfect start.
Ricky Sbragia’s kids dominated in Burton on Trent, but failed to take any of their chances.
And the worst miss of all came in the second half when Swansea City starlet King saw a weak penalty saved.
Now Scotland must pick themselves up for a clash with the Auld Enemy England at the same venue tomorrow, after the hosts opened their campaign with a 6-0 hammering of Montenegro in the group’s other game.
A torrential downpour before kick-off made conditions tricky, but the Scots started very brightly.
Liam Henderson came close in the 13th minute when he curled a shot wide after Cammy Smith set him up.
King came close to opening the scoring after 20 minutes when he crashed a 25-yard effort just wide with Ukraine keeper Roman Pidkivka beaten.
Scotland then missed a great chance five minutes later when Henderson left the ball for Ryan Gauld with only the keeper to beat, but the Dundee United kid’s effort was weak.
Celtic striker Denny Johnstone forced a save from Pidkivka and Gauld came close to making amends when he took hold of the rebound only to be denied by a diving save from the keeper.
The Scots nearly paid for those misses when Yevhen Chumak’s freekick went just wide, before Roman Yaremchuk hit the post.
But Scotland missed the biggest chance of the lot eight minutes after the break when King missed a penalty.
Gauld was tripped by Pavlo Lukyanchuk as he darted into the box. But King’s spot-kick was poor and keeper Pidkivka saved easily.