YFS
Scotland’s Under-21 team hosted the Netherlands in a goal-filled midweek encounter at Paisley’s St. Mirren Park.
Billy Stark’s babes were beaten comfortably by an exciting young Dutch team, as their hopes of reaching the European Championships in the Czech Republic next year were all but dashed.
A cool evening in Paisley attracted the handsome attendance of 3,002 highly vocal fans though, a very positive turnout for a dreary Wednesday night affair.
The Scots got the match underway and were full of running and ambition from the off, putting the pressure on the Dutch defence from an early set-piece. Kenneth McLean delivered a ball to Callum Paterson at the back post who managed to head the ball back into the danger area.
The ball eventually came back out to Ryan Fraser on the left who managed to pick out Stuart Armstrong, though the captain could only head wide of the left post.
After this initial flurry of chances the Dutch took a hold on the match, holding on to the ball effectively and passing it around the defence with patient build-up play.
Scotland were unfortunate not to take the lead shortly after though, as good work down the left by Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser led to a chance for Callum McGregor. The Celtic player managed to squeeze the ball under keeper Warner Hahn, but the target couldn’t be found as Chelsea’s Nathan Ake shepherded the ball wide of the right post.
Scotland had another chance to go ahead, this time through Ryan Fraser’s curling effort, but the shot went just a whisker wide of the wrong side of the post.
The Scots were defending well from the Dutch’s mounting attacks, but the dam was unfortunately unable to hold off much longer.
Some seriously silky skills from winger Quincy Promes saw him drag the ball past three Scotland players on the edge of the box before firing a whipped effort past Scotland’s Jordan Archer into the bottom left corner.
Scotland almost saw themselves level the tie but for the width of a goal post, as John McGinn’s daisy-cutter from 30 yards out cracked off the foot of the right hand post.
It was to be the Scot’s last chance of getting back into the match though, as Promes showed plenty of promise for the future with a masterclass in finishing late in the first half.
His second of the night came from a beautifully weighted ball out to the right by centre-back Karim Rekik, after which Promes gathered well and beat his man with ease before smashing a right-footed shot off the underside of the crossbar and into Archer’s net.
And the FC Twente starlet stamped his claim for inclusion in the senior World Cup squad by rounding off the hat-trick two minutes later. Promes was played through on goal into an acre of space before coolly firing past Archer to put the Dutch three nil up.