SAFEWAY INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE MATCH
Attendance 28,762
Scotland suffered their fifth successive full international defeat under new manager Berti Vogts at Hampden Park tonight, an early Ebbe Sand strike for Denmark proving to be the only goal of the game.
It was the first appearance at Hampden for Vogts, and a crowd of 28,762 turned up to welcome him. There were three Rangers’ players in the starting line-up – Maurice Ross and Barry Ferguson for Scotland, Peter Lovenkrands for Denmark.
The Danes struck early, a Dennis Rommedahl cross finding Sand unmarked inside the six-yard box, and the Schalke striker made no mistake with his header.
Even this early Scotland were struggling – the pace of Lovenkrands wide on the left was causing all kinds of problems, and from one low cross in 19 minutes the inrushing Jon Dahl Tomasson was inches away from connecting.
Sixty seconds later Robbie Stockdale rescued the home side when he cleared a Christian Poulsen shot from a Tomasson corner off the line.
There was an injury scare for the Scots in 22 minutes when Ferguson collided in mid-air with Poulsen, but the Ibrox Captain recovered after treatment.
Scotland were simply not at the races as their opponents controlled play with neat possession football. Tomasson came close in 37 minutes when Robert Douglas held his shot from Rene Henriksen’s opining.
Denmark continued to dominate play after the interval – Peter Lovenkrands testing Douglas in 51 minutes with a twenty-yard drive, and twelve minutes later the home ‘keeper was struggling to claw away a 25-yard drive from substitute Jan Michaelsen.
Former Celtic player Morten Wieghorst was introduced midway through the second-half, replacing Milan’s Martin Laursen. Indeed Morten almost made it a Glasgow return to remember when he had a great chance from a corner in 75 minutes – only to shoot weakly at Douglas.
Ex-Ranger Allan Johnston replaced Gary Naysmith in 71 minutes, and former Ibrox midfielder Derek McInnes received his first cap with ten minutes remaining, replacing Paul Lambert. Barry Ferguson took over as Scots’ Captain, moving back into central defence at the same time.
The game petered out in the closing minutes with the Danes in total command. A Mexican wave amongst the spectators underlined how engrossed they were in the proceedings, and when a streaker appeared on the pitch the idiot was actually applauded by some of the spectators.
A fifth consecutive defeat marks the worst start for any Scotland Manager ever, and on this form even a victory in the Faroe Islands next month is by no means a certainty.
A defensive Berti Vogts afterwards emphasised the need to develop greater understanding amongst his players, but time is running out for the German Coach after a Hampden performance that must rank as one of the worst in Scotland’s history. To be blunt, Berti’s opinions are beginning to sound like those of a lost soul whistling in the dark.
SCOTLAND Douglas; Ross, Naysmith (Johnston 71); Weir (Severin 77), Dailly, Ferguson; McNaughton (Crainey 45), Stockdale (Alexander 71), Kyle, Lambert (McInnes 80), Thompson (Dobie 55)
UNUSED SUBS Sullivan, Wilkie, Williams, Gallacher
DENMARK Sorensen; Bogelund (Gronkjaer 45), Henriksen (Lustu 83); Laursen (Wieghorst 66), N. Jensen, Poulsen; Gravesen (Michaelsen 45), Lovenkrand (Silberbauer 71), Tomasson, Rommedahl (C. Jensen), Sand
UNUSED SUBS Skov-Jensen
REFEREE Leslie Irvine (Northern Ireland)