Under-19s lose to Germany

ScotLAND’S Under-19s slumped to a 1-0 defeat by Germany in Falkirk last night.

Scotland manager Ricky Sbragia had words of praise for his team as they battled through the rain at the Falkirk Stadium against a dominant German side who could have scored more goals than the strike from Marcel Karcher in the second half which settled the game.

“We always want to match our skills against the best and the Germans were excellent. They swamped us and we were careless,” said Sbragia. “We have Norway and Holland coming up and this kind of opposition helps us prepare better.”

Scotland and Hearts keeper Jack Hamilton denied Dominik Kohr and Koray Gunther in a busy opening spell as Sebastian Kerk almost opened the scoring. The Scots, with Hibs’ Sam Stanton in their line-up, threatened when Lewis MacLeod sent Barrie McKay through, but he shot wide. Just before the break Celtic’s Marcus Fraser almost netted with a header from a 
MacLeod cross. But Karcher 
tapped in the winner from close range half after a cut-back from Yannick Gerhardt.