Highlights: Austria 1-0 Scotland

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland at Josko Arena, Ried im Innkreis

Scotland fell at the first hurdle of their Nations League campaign game with a solitary goal defeat by Austria.

The visitors, led by interim head coach Michael McArdle, started well with Kirsty Hanson carving out two solid opportunities but it was Austria who struck first.

A poor clearance from the Scottish defence in their own box gifted the ball to Lilli Purtscheller, who smashed her shot into the back of Lee Gibson's net.

The early exit of Sophie Howard after a nasty head knock spelled more trouble for McArdle, who brought on Rangers centre-back Leah Eddie in her place, to complete a backline that included two debutants.

After that loss, Scotland looked in serious risk of unravelling as Austria continued to find space but Scotland carved out opportunities of their own and forced goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger into a very impressive point-blank save from Hanson's strike.

Emma Lawton tested the gloves of Zinsberger, albeit with a rather tame header as the hosts saw out victory.

Familiar feeling for Scots

Despite a new boss in the dugout and plenty of fresh faces among the squad, Scotland's latest loss will feel all too familiar.

Scotland's backline, albeit very young and inexperienced, gave the ball away cheaply and were far from convincing when it came to clearing their lines. There were a fair few slack passes in the midfield too, which put them under even more pressure throughout the first half.

They started better in the second but as the half wore on they looked less and less like they would be able to salvage something.

Arguably this was the easiest of the opponents in the group - with the Netherlands and Germany making up the remainder of A1 - and once again it's looking like an uphill battle for the Scots, who parted with Pedro Martinez Losa at the end of the unsuccessful Euro 2025 qualifying campaign.

The Dutch visit Hampden on Tuesday (19:30 GMT).

Austria overcome tricky start

Despite a nervy start for the hosts, Austria came out as a side that looked adamant they weren't going to repeat the mistakes of a 1-0 loss at Hampden back in 2022.

They pressed Scotland high and put the inexperienced defence under serious pressure for the whole of the first half.

Purtscheller was a threat all game and, despite a bloody nose in the second half, the attacker soldiered on and made things harder for the visitors on what was already a difficult evening.

A couple of late openings for Scotland may have caused nerves but Austria always looked comfortable.

On Tuesday, they visit Germany, who drew 2-2 away to the Netherlands later on Friday.

What they said

Scotland interim head coach Michael McArdle: "Disappointed with the result, performance-wise, there's areas we can improve as well.

"We know that ourselves, we're already in reflection immediately after the game, particularly transitional moments in the centre of the pitch, but, it's fine margins, we created plenty of chances.

"We're just missing that cutting edge, that bit of belief in front of goal."

Scotland defender Emma Lawton: "It was definitely a proud moment for me to get my first start but disappointed with the result.

"There's a lot of positives in there that we can take going into a difficult game on Tuesday. We know it's going to be a really tough game. They've got some good quality individual players but so do we so we'll re-group after this game."

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