Czech Republic 0-1 Scotland

Ikechi Anya scored his third goal for Scotland, on the occasion of his 18th cap

Scotland withstood heavy early pressure to record an impressive friendly win over Euro 2016-bound Czech Republic.

Ikechi Anya's breakaway goal after 10 minutes, reminiscent of his strike in Dortmund against Germany, proved to be the decisive moment in Prague.

Scotland might have had a second had Alan Hutton been awarded what looked like a clear-cut second-half penalty.

But Gordon Strachan's preparations for the World Cup qualifiers began with only a second-ever win over the Czechs.

They return home to face Denmark in another friendly at Hampden Park on Tuesday, with further matches in June against Italy and France before they begin World Cup qualifying against Malta in September.

Stiff opposition

Scotland manager Strachan spoke before the match of having picked difficult friendly opposition to help his players develop ahead of more meaningful fixtures.

The Czechs certainly provided a stern test, reinforcing their status as winners of a tough group in the Euro qualifiers.

They bombarded Allan McGregor's goal in the opening 20 minutes, only for the Hull goalkeeper to produce a string of saves to deny them.

Allan McGregor was in sparkling form for Scotland, making a string of good saves

He palmed Tomas Sivok's header round the post after Borek Dockal had smashed a free-kick off the bar.

A diving save to tip away Martin Frydek's rasping shot was the other highlight after Anya had bemused the home supporters by slotting Scotland in front.

The Watford man raced onto Ross McCormack's through ball down the left flank and finished strongly, first time, with his left foot.

Second-half improvement

The Scots' first-half display was littered with slack passes and a lack of concentration.

But they began to get the Czechs' measure and became more composed as the match progressed.

A flurry of substitutions on both sides also had a disruptive effect but Scotland looked assured in the second period and might have gone further ahead when substitute Matt Phillips saw his header from a Robert Snodgrass cross saved by Tomas Koubek.

But McGregor was called upon once more to make another top-class intervention, turning an effort by Lukas Marecek round the post.

Learning experience

Ross McCormack held the ball up well for Scotland and created Anya's goal

Although the Scotland management team had stressed this was not an exercise in experimentation, Strachan took the opportunity to give Aberdeen midfielder Kenny McLean a debut.

Playing just behind McCormack, McLean found possession hard to come by in what was a tough introduction to international football, which lasted 57 minutes.

McCormack, given a rare chance in his first cap for two years, also lacked service but played a crucial role in Anya's goal, showing great strength and weight of pass to play the winger through.

There were late debuts too for striker Tony Watt and defender Paul Caddis, which would have told the manager little about their ability to handle this level of football, but offered them a moment to savour.