Scotland u21 1
Iceland u21 0
Scorer: Maloney (69)
JUST as they did last October, Scotland's young pretenders threw down the gauntlet to the senior squad with a victory against Iceland that was comprehensive in all but scoreline. Shaun Maloney's solitary salvo belies such praise, but they could have won at a canter.
Regardless of scoreline sheen, Rainer Bonhof's target, namely to end international week with nine points and thus exert pressure on the strongly fancied Germans, who have only one engagement, has moved closer to completion.
''We should not underestimate Lithuania because they won in Iceland but it was good to get the goal,'' he said. ''When you have been in international football for a long time, you see the clock running down and feel the tension. It could have been more comfortable.''
Maloney, unhappy to discover he was only allocated a seat on the bench, ensured the points - and probably a starting slot in Lithuania - with a 69th-minute tap-in. ''I was gutted when I found out I wasn't playing because I think I did well in my previous games for Scotland but I had a point to prove when I came on,'' he said.
Kevin Kyle, sometime A-team target man, and James McFadden, back after a brief but character-building exile, were the choice starters but there was no shortage of back-up.
Maloney, with a Champions League goal enhancing his status, sat alongside former club-mate Simon Lynch, who has been handed new responsibility at Preston, and Tam McManus. If they continue to ripen, a goal-laden era may beckon. We've said that often enough and been wrong.
For all the chances, the fans were on tenterhooks longer than should have been the case. McFadden, whose creativity is compromised when thrust into full attacking mode, could still have had a hat trick. Denied twice by the beams, he also ought to have lofted his best chance, after 30 minutes, over the keeper rather than try to bludgeon it through him.
But for a five-minute burst from the Icelanders, Scotland's dominance made compelling viewing. John Kennedy and Andy Webster cut imposing, at times imperious, figures in defence, much to frustration of Iceland's lone striker, Armann Smari Bjornsson. So bruising and one-sided was his contest with Kennedy, it was like watching a rerun of Scott Harrison's pulverising of Wayne McCulloch.
The midfield were also unanimously ahead on points. Brian Kerr was deemed worthy of a start in Newcastle's Champions League second phase against Bayer Leverkusen and was evidently a cut above the competition. Spraying passes effortlessly and with unerring accuracy, it was his probing which yielded most of the first half opportunities. Beside him, Michael Stewart, another with invaluable European experience, preferred to be pretty, though only occasionally to any great effect. Of the five trenchmen, only Forest's Gareth Williams seemed subdued, perhaps taking his demotion from first-team duty to heart.
With so much territorial advantage, and so little tangible reward for their efforts, the prospect of a sucker punch was never far from mind. Webster did his best to allay such fears with a seemingly net-bound header from Stewart's sumptuous wide delivery. Alas, Omar Johansson was up to his old tricks in the Iceland goal.
Among an enthusiastic audience, even the discerning palates of Craig Brown and David Moyes were satisfied. How the former, after an eight-year stretch with the SFA, could relate to such a profligate evening. There primarily to lend moral support to Lynch, although you can bet a packet of Walker's Shortbread McFadden's performance was closely scrutinised, this must have been all-too-familiar.
Stewart was next to come tantalisingly close, sending an in-swinging set-piece soaring over Johannson's head only for the bar to again intervene. Enough already. Maloney on for McFadden. The boy Bonhof can do no wrong. Within eight minutes of his introduction, Celtic's pint-sized predator won the day, bundling Ian Murray's low cross over the line from inside the six-yard box.
Broadwood's inhabitants breathed more easily from hereon in. Not even an Icelandic shot shaving the bar evoked more than a whimper of concern. This was always going to be Scotland's night. Honest.
Scotland (3-5-2) Soutar; G Caldwell, Kennedy, Webster; Canero, Williams, Stewart (Hughes 80), Kerr, Murray; Kyle, McFadden (Maloney 62). Subs: McGregor, Doig, Pearson, McManus, Lynch
Iceland (4-4-2) O Johansson; Arnarsson, Mete, Gudmunsson, Eiriksson;
A Johansson (Sigurdsson 70), Danielsson, Steinsson, Thorsteinsson (Snorrason 63); Bjornsson, Thorvaldsson. Subs: Halldorsson, Kristjansson, Elisabetarson
Referee Kostadin Kostadinov (Bulgaria)
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