England 6-0 Scotland: Players will aim to make amends - Thompson

Scotland head coach Anna Signeul said nerves proved costly in their heavy defeat

Scotland will seek to purge the memory of their Euro 2017 thrashing by England when they face Portugal, says BBC Sportsound pundit Steven Thompson.

Anna Signeul said her side struggled with the big occasion as they lost 6-0 in their opening match.

Thompson, part of the BBC commentary team in Utrecht, said Sunday's match against the Portuguese was crucial.

"They've got to dust themselves down and pick themselves up very quickly," said Thompson.

• Scotland thrashed in Euro 2017 opener

• Signeul blames first-game nerves

• Lessons for Scots

The Scots conceded three goals in each half on their major tournament debut, with Signeul rueing her side's nervous display.

Thompson said Scotland's tactic of sitting in to contain England failed to pay dividends because of poor defending.

'Goals were all avoidable'

"If you're going to do that then you've got to defend well," Thompson told BBC Scotland. "And the one thing Scotland certainly did not do last night was defend well.

"The goals we lost were all avoidable and cheap. We left Jane Ross up front on her own extremely isolated - when we did manage to find her with passes, more often than not they were inaccurate or couldn't get support up to her.

"There were many things wrong with the performance last night and the girls will know that; individually and collectively, they can do an awful lot better."

On the issue of Scotland's players suffering from nerves during their Euro 2017 opener, Thompson said: "Yes, it was their first time in tournament football and England have had tournament football before, so you can use that.

"But when you look back and dissect the game from last night, they will see that their performance was flawed.

"But they've got to put this to bed as soon as possible because there's a massive game coming up on Sunday [against Portugal, who lost 2-0 to Spain].

"Portugal are another side who have never been to a finals, so it's a team Scotland are capable of beating, although they're above us in the world rankings.

"I hope that the girls' confidence hasn't been dented too much from last night, they've got to dust themselves down and pick themselves up very quickly.

"They'll go over [the defeat] and look at how they can improve on their defending. A lot of the quality players in Scotland's top end of the pitch never shone either. There's plenty for Anna Signeul to look over leading into the Portugal game."