International friendly: Reaction as Scotland held to draw in Austria

Summary

Jack Hendry turns in after Grant Hanley's header strikes the bar; Craig Gordon with a host of crucial saves
John McGinn slams Kieran Tierney pull back into the net before Michael Gregoritsch and Alessandro Schöpf level the game
Scotland now eight games unbeaten following two draws in this international break
Austria lost World Cup play-off semi-final to Wales

Live Reporting

Colin Moffat

'Great balance in side'published at 19:16 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
Billy Dodds
Former Scotland striker on BBC Sportsound
Quote Message
It's still a strong side. It's got a great balance. Many a friendly years ago, players wouldn't think about turning up. But you see with this squad, there's competition for places and players want to turn up
Uncapped goalies must waitpublished at 19:14 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
It's not what you'd call an experimental team for Scotland, but it does underline the good depth available to head coach Steve Clarke.
Goalkeepers Liam Kelly and Zander Clark must bide their time again, with Hearts defender Craig Halkett the only uncapped outfield player on the bench since there's no sign of Sunderland striker Ross Stewart on the team-sheet.
Image source, SNS
Image caption,
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke in conversation with Ross Stewart, who is not included among the substitutes
Ton up for Dragovicpublished at 19:10 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
Aleksandar Dragovic, recently on the losing side for Red Star Belgrade against Rangers in the Europa League, wins his 100th cap for the host nation.
The 31-year-old defender is just the second Austrian to reach that landmark after Andreas Herzog and he captains the side tonight in the absence of David Alaba.
Ferguson starts for Scotlandpublished at 19:07 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
Captain Andy Robertson is back after a bout of Covid and Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson makes his first start.
Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Jack and Jack Hendry also come into the team.
Greg Taylor, Ryan Christie, Callum McGregor, Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay are the players making way.
Not the game Austria wanted...published at 19:04 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
Of course, Scotland were originally scheduled to be playing nerve-shredding World Cup qualifiers in this international window but Ukraine are in no shape to be thinking about football right now.
Wales wait for the winners of that Scotland v Ukraine game, which is pencilled in for June.
Having lost their semi-final in Cardiff last week, Austria will be feeling sore and probably a bit sorry for themselves.
Who's twisted idea was it to arrange friendlies for all of the play-off losers anyway? Expect a lot of empty seats in the 50,000-capacity stadium.
Image source, SNS
Image caption,
Scotland fans could outnumber home supporters this evening
LINE-UPS at Ernst-Happel-Stadionpublished at 19:00 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
Austria: Bachmann, Ilsanker, Hinteregger, Dragovic, Lazaro, Laimer, Sabitzer, Baumgartner, Ulmer, Kalajdzic, Arnautovic.
Substitutes: Pentz, Weimann, Gregoritsch, Ullmann, Grull, Schopf, Lainer.
Scotland: Gordon, Hendry, Hanley, Tierney, Patterson, Jack, Ferguson, Robertson, Armstrong, McGinn, Adams.
Substitutes: Clark, Kelly, O'Donnell, McTominay, McGregor, Dykes, Christie, Gilmour, Halkett, Hickey, Brown, Taylor.
Oh, Viennapublished at 18:59 British Summer Time 29 March 2022
Austria v Scotland (19:45)
Scotland follow Thursday's 1-1 draw at home to Poland with another friendly outing away to Austria.
Head coach Steve Clarke was promising to make more changes than usual, so let's see what he has up his sleeve.