Scotland Under-17 1 - 2 Cyprus Under-17: Feruz shines on Scots debut but Cyprus spoil the party

Published on Tuesday 20 October 2009 23:58

SCOTLAND welcomed Somali-born 14-year-old Islam Feruz to their ranks last night as the much talked about Celtic youngster pulled on a dark blue jersey and came on as a half-time substitute for the national under-17 side in their Uefa Qualifying group match at East End Park.

The night, however, was to end in disappointment for the Scots as Cyprus came back from a goal down to win the first game in the four-team qualifying section.

The publicity surrounding Feruz's recruitment – he is the first player to represent Scotland under the new eligibility rule which allows British passport holders to play for any of the home nations, providing they have been educated in that country for five years – helped swell the crowd in Fife to 1,048.

And the fans got a glimpse of what the pint-sized striker is capable of when he set up the opening goal in 61 minutes.

Feruz broke forward on the right wing and sent over a 40-yard pass to the far post where his Parkhead team-mate Callum McGregor came rushing in to strike the ball past Andreas Daniil from eight yards out.

The Cypriots hit back with two late goals to leave national coach Ross Mathie saying: "It was a disappointing result, but, of course, the high spot was the debut of Islam. We saw enough to know that we have a player but he is young and hopefully things will settle down for him now that he is a Scotland player."

Mathie added: "The last player who got me as excited when he got on the ball at a young age was Pat Nevin when I was at Clyde and he turned out OK."

The Cypriots got the equaliser that their earlier play deserved in 82 minutes when Olympiakos striker Pieros Sotiriou muscled his way into the Scotland box and unleashed a fierce right-foot past Robbie Thomson.

With the Scots thinking that a draw would be on the cards, Englezou broke forward in injury time and cut past Fraser Mullen before firing home from 16 yards out to end Feruz's historic night in disappointing style.

The other match in Scotland's group between Portugal and Georgia ended in a 2-0 win for the Portugese at Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium. Sousa Esgaio of Sporting Lisbon scored in 38 minutes, with Naval Costa Eduardo adding a second, from the penalty spot in 72 minutes.

Scotland face Georgia tomorrow night at Raith Rovers' Stark's Park, with Portugal and Cyprus meeting at East Fife's New Bayview Stadium.

Scotland: Thomson (Celtic), Mullen (Hearts), McHattie (Dunfermline Athletic) (Hunter (Rangers) 65), Kerr (Birmingham City), Hutchison (Lincoln City), MacGregor (Bolton Wanderers), Walker (Hearts) (Ramsay (St Mirren) 58), McGeough (Rangers), McAusland (Rangers) (Feruz (Celtic) 41), Fyvie (Aberdeen), McGregor (Celtic). Unused subs: Wightman (Celtic Gk), Young (Celtic), Smith (Hearts), Main (Rangers).

Cyprus: Daniil, Chatzigeorgiou, Christofi, Kalyommatos, Kyprianou (Adamou 54), Andreou, Sotiriou, Laifis, Englezou, Kastanas, Theodorou. Unused subs – Parpounas, Foklas, Charalampous, Efthimiou, Kontou, Kyriakou.

Referee: V Direktorenko. Att:1,048.