Scotland U21 1-2 Iceland U21: Visitors come from behind to secure friendly win
- Published
Watch the goals as Scotland U21s lose to Iceland
Iceland Under-21s came from behind to end Scotland's five-game unbeaten run thanks to two goals from Kristall Mani Ingason in their Fir Park friendly.
Scot Gemmill's hosts were well worthy of their 30th-minute lead as Max Johnston fired the opener on his debut.
But Ingason forced in the equaliser two minutes after the break.
And the winger slotted a penalty kick on the hour mark to stretch their unbeaten run against the Scots to five meetings since 2010.
It was a new era for two sides who missed out on the Euro finals, with Iceland handing out six debuts and Scotland five.
Making his first start, Ben Doak set about following up his recent Liverpool debut by terrorising the Iceland defence with his blistering pace and the winger was instrumental in an opener that came with the visitors reeling from losing key midfielder Andri Baldursson after a poor challenge from Connor McAvoy.
Johnston, playing in familiar surroundings, set Doak off down the wing and, after the Liverpool 17-year-old skinned his marker, the right-back on loan from Motherwell to Cove Rangers was on hand to stroke home the cut back.
Adam Ingi Benediktsson had denied Doak before then and did so twice more before his face got in the way of a thunderous Tommy Conway drive that eventually led the Gothenburg goalkeeper to be replaced at half time.
Iceland had threatened shortly before the break and continued their improvement as Rosenborg's Ingason finished at the second attempt after initially being denied by Newcastle United goalkeeper Jude Smith.
When Hayden Hackney lost the ball as he dallied on the edge of the penalty box, the Middlesbrough midfielder tripped substitute Kristofer Jonsson, Ingason slotted the spot kick into the corner and the visitors got their reward for an improved second-half display.
Scotland Under-21 manager Scot Gemmill: "First half, it was really exciting to see how attacking we can be, how many chances we can create, but anyone who knows football knows you have to take those chances and credit Iceland for the way they came out in the second half - they changed their shape and personnel.
"We obviously know that is something we need to improve on and it's the major lesson for our players. But it is a great experience for our players and there's a lot we can look forward to next year."
Scotland U21: Jude Smith, Johnston, McAvoy, Morrison, Bowat, Hackney, Barron, Lowry, Doak, Conway, Connor Smith.
Substitutes: Hogarth, Devine, Long, Meekison, Neilson, Dickson-Peters, Fraser.
Iceland U21: Benediktsson, Palsson, Thorkelsson, Ludviksson, Omarsson, Baldursson, Sigurgeirsson, Sigurpalsson, Valgeirsson, Ingason, Djuric.
Substitutes: Gudmundsson, Arnar Gunnarsson, Jonsson, Stefansson, Wohler, Johannsson, Olafur Helgason.