World news – GB – Scotland’s U-21 dream in the European Championship ends with defeat in Greece

The Scotland U-21 squad missed the opportunity to repeat the success of Steve Clark’s big team as they lost 1-0 to Greece, ending their hopes of making their European Championship debut since 1996.

Hibernian defender Ryan Porteous started at Apostolos Nikolaidis but was caught falling asleep in the back post and was unable to prevent Efthymis Christopoulos from scoring the only goal in a difficult match in the first half.

This meant that coach Scott Gimmel’s team was unable to leap over the Czech Republic to the top of their qualifying group, as the young team fell to third place after Croatia’s 7-0 victory over Lithuania.. .

The visitors had to win on terrible ground to qualify for the appropriate tournament in Slovakia and Hungary next year.

That would have seen the young Gemmill team join the first team to qualify for an international tournament for the first time in more than 20 years..

A draw was not enough for Scotland to qualify as one of the best runners-up due to the superior goal difference between Belgium and Romania.. .

In the end, this proved insignificant as Croatia defeated Lithuania in Pula to finish second in Group D in qualifying.

Greece’s goal came after a series of defensive lapses that ended in the shadow of Christopoulos in front of Porteous in the back corner.. .

Stade de Reims striker Fraser Hornby and Celtic player David Turnbull both turned down good chances in the second half 45, but couldn’t find a way through a solid Greek defensive line.

Scotland national under-21 football team, Scotland, Scott Gemmell, Greek national under-21 football team, Ryan Porteous, UEFA European Championship