Scotland 0-1 Austria: Defeat at Hampden sees Scotland relegated in Women’s Nations League | OneFootball

Austria clinched a 0-1 win over Scotland in the UEFA Women’s Nations League at Hampden Park on Friday.

Julia Hickelsberger-Füller’s second-half strike helped the Austrian side keep hold of their third-place in Group A1, ahead of their final match against Germany on Tuesday.

Alexander Schribel’s side managed to dominate and maintain possession across the whole 90 minutes in an impressive feat against the opposition, who have been relegated to League B in Melissa Andreatta’s first game as Head Coach.

As it happened

In front of a Glaswegian crowd on Friday night, Austria dominated the game early on and had several goalscoring opportunities throughout the first 20 minutes of the game, challenging the Scottish defence.

Sloppy passes from the Scottish side made it easy for the Austrians to force attempt after attempt and challenge goalkeeper Lee Gibson, who saved the hosts from an embarrassing scoreline in front of their home fans.

Despite the first half ending goalless, it was clear that Alexander Schribel’s side were the strongest team going into the second half.

Rachel Corsie was substituted on at half time for her final appearance at Hampden Park and motivated the Scottish side to push harder against the Austrians. Scotland looked like a different team at the start of the second half, pushing further up the pitch with attempts from Erin Cuthbert and Caroline Weir forcing Manuel Zinsberger to make some difficult saves.

But the game changed in the 61st minute when Austria were awarded a corner, which was nodded home by Julia Hickelsberger-Füller despite Gibson’s best efforts to make a save.

Melissa Andreatta’s second-half substitutions looked to boost Scotland’s chances of clinching an equaliser, with Martha Thomas making strong attempts to even out the scoreline in the final minutes of the game.

Despite their best efforts, Scotland weren’t able to claim the crucial three points needed to avoid relegation to League B in the next campaign. There will be nothing at stake for Andreatta’s side when they take on the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The lineups

AUT: Zinsberger; Wienroither. Georgieva, Kirchberger, Hanshaw; Zadrazil; Schasching, Zadrazil, Puntigam; Höbinger; Hickelsberger, Purtscheller