Women's Euro 2017: Erin Cuthbert backs Scotland to come good against Spain

Erin Cuthbert (centre) scored Scotland's first goal at a major finals

Erin Cuthbert thinks Scotland can beat higher-ranked Spain and qualify from Group D of the Euro 2017 finals - despite losing their first two games.

The Scots need a two-goal win on Thursday, combined with an England victory over Portugal, to go through.

"Against Spain, it is going to be a different type of game," said Chelsea midfielder Cuthbert, who scored for the Scots as they lost 2-1 to Portugal.

"And I trust my team-mates that we are going to get a positive result."

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Spain need a win themselves after losing 2-0 to England, who now lead the group having also hammered Scotland 6-0 in their opening game.

But, despite the Spanish being ranked 13 in the world, eight places above the Scots, Cuthbert thinks her side can go one better than the 1-1 draw in the last meeting - a friendly at Falkirk Stadium in March 2016.

"We're Scottish, so dust ourselves down relatively quickly and we've got another game in a few days, so we will look at what we need to improve on and take our chances," said the midfielder, who scored Scotland's equaliser against Portugal after coming on as a substitute.

Cuthbert is determined not to let defeat by Portugal spoil her pleasure at being the first Scottish woman to score at a major football finals.

"On a personal level, I'm still disappointed," said the midfielder.

"But it was brilliant to score my first goal in a major championship for Scotland - and Scotland's first goal.

"We dictated a lot of the play and I really feel we deserved more from that game.

"Sometimes in tournament football you get punished for the chances you don't take and mistakes you make, but I'm really proud to be Scottish and wear the jersey - win, lose or draw."

Scotland have a slight advantage in previous meetings with Spain, winning six and drawing five of their 15 matches.

However, Spain famously won their most recent competitive game, when Veronica Boquete scored in the last seconds of extra time to win 3-2 - and 4-3 on aggregate - in a play-off for the Euro 2013 finals.

This time, Scotland will be without their three best players - Arsenal's Kim Little and Manchester City duo Jennifer Beattie and Jane Ross through injury.

Goalkeeper Gemma Fay lamented their inability to take their chances against the Portuguese.

"It wouldn't be Scotland if we didn't leave it until the last game to have to do something," said the Scotland captain.

"Portugal might be ranked below us, but they are not a bad team by any stretch of the imagination. They have some very good players.

"We tried the best we could knowing we had to get a result and had opportunities early in the first half - we hit the post and had shots saved.

"It's a tough defeat to take, but there are some positives we can take, particularly in attack, and we move on to the Spain game."