Peter Houston conceded Scotland U21s Euro 2023 qualifying hopes are over after a damaging Tynecastle defeat to Turkey.
The stand-in boss admitted his players were outclassed by the relentless Turks who leapfrogged his side into third.
Goals from Furkan Bayir and Kartal Yilmaz leave the Scots a mammoth 14 points off leaders Belgium and five shy of Denmark in the play-off spot having played a game more than the Danes ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Kazakhstan.
Houston took charge as head coach Scot Gemmill continued to isolate at home after testing positive for covid. But it wouldn’t have made for comfortable viewing back at Gemmill’s gaff.
The Scots were second best all over the park to the slick and inventive Turks who now move onto seven points with the Tartan youngsters stuck on four.
Houston, who wasn’t sure if Gemmill will be cleared to make the trip to Almaty next week, said: “I thought Turkey were physically stronger than us and we were beaten by a better team.
“We have to learn from that. If we had sneaked something from the game it would probably have been a travesty from their point.
“I don’t think we were qualifying anyway. Belgium have won their six games and Denmark are always semi finalists or finalists in this tournament are in second.
“What we are looking to do is finish third because qualifying becomes a bit harder when you are in a tougher group. So we are a bit disappointed that way but we did not deserve much from the game.
“The only positive I can take is we got young players on the pitch like Josh Campbell, Connor Barron, Connor Smith, Jay Henderson. We gave them a bit of 21s experience.”
With top team stars Craig Gordon, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Ferguson, Lyndon Dykes and Aaron Hickey among the 2016 Tynecastle crowd, Scotland almost got off to a flyer when Lewis Mayo’s header from a trademark Calvin Ramsay set piece forced a flying save from Ersin Destanoglu.
Turkey responded immediately though when Ali Akman’s diving header just cleared Cieran Slicker’s bar.
It was to signal a first half battering for the Scots. The visitors were slick in possession with Nijmegen dangerman Akman and Galatasaray winger Bans Alper Yilmaz pulling the strings. Kerem Kesgin saw a shot loop just over after being set-up by Akman and Stephen Welsh had to look lively to clear a dangerous cross from Bunyamin Balci.
But the opener arrived for the Turks after 28 minutes. Alper Yilmaz shrugged off the attention of Brighton’s Marc Leonard too easily as he burst into the box on the right and his low cross into the six yard box was bundled home by Bayir.
Houston’s side had a big problem. They were sloppy in possession and the visitors had all the creativity on the ball. Alper Yilmaz was inches away from doubling their lead after cutting inside Ramsay and firing wide.
Ramsay then breathed a sigh of relief when Alper Yilmaz went down under his challenge in the box but was booked for diving and Slicker produced a super full-length save to tip Dogugan Haspolat’s 25-yard free kick wide.
Scotland had struggled to get any attacking impact out of full-backs Josh Doig and Ramsay while Glenn Middleton cut a frustrated figure up top.
Houston rang the changes at the interval with Zak Rudden, Josh Campbell and Connor Barron on for Scott Banks, Scott High and Leonard.
Rudden becoming the focal point allowed Middleton more freedom and the Scots began to force pressure onto the Turks.
Mayo came close with another header from a Ramsay delivery and Doig then brought a fine one fisted save from Destanoglu from a Middleton corner as Scotland tried to make the most of set pieces.
But it took another superb save from Man City’s Slicker to deny Tiago Cukur a second after the Watford striker had pinched the ball off a dithering Ramsay.
The killer second arrived with 20 minutes left though when Yilmaz’s 30 yard effort deflected off Welsh and left Slicker helpless.
