Ferguson: Long season no excuse for Scotland´s ´sloppy´ Iceland display

Lewis Ferguson acknowledged that many of the Scotland squad had had long domestic seasons, but said it was no excuse after their 3-1 friendly defeat to Iceland on Friday.

Scotland came into the game in search of a confidence-boosting result ahead of their friendly with Liechtenstein later this week, but were booed off at Hampden Park.

Andri Gudjohnsen opened the scoring with a fine finish from just outside the box eight minutes in, picking out the top corner with a stunning strike that clipped the crossbar on its way in.

Scotland levelled in the 25th minute through John Souttar but found themselves behind on the stroke of half-time when Lewis Ferguson turned into his own net from close range.

Victor Palsson sealed the win seven minutes after the restart, powering a thumping header from Albert Gudmundsson’s teasing free-kick beyond the grasp of Cieran Slicker.

Scotland have now lost 12 of their last 21 matches in all competitions (W4 D5). Since the date of the first loss in this run, that is as many defeats as San Marino have suffered.

“It’s been a long season for a lot of the lads, but we’re here to do a job,” Ferguson told BBC Radio Scotland.

“We set out to win the game, but we’re nowhere near the standard we, or anybody, expect.

“We set our standards pretty high, and we were nowhere near that. We conceded sloppy goals from set pieces, and that’s just not good enough; it gives us too much to do.”

Scotland’s matters were not helped when goalkeeper Angus Gunn was forced off after just seven minutes and was replaced by debutant Slicker.

The 22-year-old was on the pitch for 64 seconds before his poor kick out was intercepted, funnelled forward, and rattled into the roof of his net by Gudjohnsen.

And speaking after the game, Scotland boss Steve Clarke conceded that while his hands were tied, an international debut was too soon for Slicker.

“It was disappointing. The night didn’t get off to a great start,” Clarke added. “We lost our goalie and compounded that by conceding the first goal.

“It’s difficult for Cieran, I really feel for him. He got thrown into a situation that he wasn’t quite ready for, but Craig Gordon’s injured, Liam Kelly’s injured, Zander Clark is injured.

“It’s something I thought might come back to bite us. The only good thing is it came in a friendly match.

“If you get injured in the first couple of minutes, and then you come off, I’d imagine [Angus Gunn] won’t play the next game.

“I’ve had young Callan McKenna in the squad, so he’ll travel, then we’ll have a look and see if we can find another one in Scotland who’s not on holiday.”

Clarke echoed the words of Ferguson following the full-time whistle, conceding his team looked flat during the game.

“I’m not so sure it was too much to do with the shape, we just looked a little bit flat at times, even when we got back in the game,” Clarke said.

“We made their goalkeeper work a few times. On another night, maybe you get those finished, and it would be a different story.

“In two days’ time we’re going to Liechtenstein, so hopefully we’ll get a performance.”