The inexperience of Scotland�s revamped under-21 squad was brutally exposed last night when Billy Stark�s side were well beaten in a friendly match by a clinical Northern Ireland side.

The inexperience of Scotland's revamped under-21 squad was brutally exposed last night when Billy Stark's side were well beaten in a friendly match by a clinical Northern Ireland side.

Stark, forced to shed most of his seasoned performers from the previous campaign now too old to continue at this level, saw their replacements take an early lead only for early promise to be swiftly doused as the visitors took advantage of some poor defending, and a missed Scotland penalty, to cruise to a comfortable victory.

Scotland's next match will be in February, the same month in which they will find out their opponents in the qualifying section for the 2011 European Championships. Their first tie in the group could be as early as March, giving Stark little time to work with a group of players unused to operating at this level.

Stark was blessed with three confident central defenders in the form of Mark Reynolds, Garry Kenneth and Scott Cuthbert for his qualifying campaign for Euro 2009 and will be concerned with the manner in which his new-look defence gifted Northern Ireland all three goals.

There were positives, too, for the manager to chew over. Brian Easton, the evening's local hero, carried his sparkling form for Hamilton on to the international scene with a series of marauding runs down the left flank, while Jamie Murphy looked persistently dangerous whenever Scotland motored towards the Northern Ireland goal.

The overriding impression, however, was that Stark has his work cut out to adequately prepare this latest intake of young aspirants for the challenges that lie ahead once competitive action recommences early next year.

Experience among any group not old enough to be handed the key to the door is always relative but, despite the radical overhaul to his squad, Stark could at least still call upon a few names with sufficient familiarity of either football at this level or of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

That was off-set by the inclusion of five debutants in the starting line-up, one of whom, Alan Martin, the goalkeeper, had to depart looking distraught after just 16 minutes, after sustaining an injury trying to prevent Northern Ireland from scoring their opening goal of the evening.

He was replaced by Scott Gallacher, another earning his first cap at this level, as Scotland tried, but ultimately failed, to reassert their authority on the contest after a bright start.

The dawn of a new era could not have broken any brighter as Stark's Team II forged in front within the first three minutes. Paul Caddis, the Celtic player and newly installed under-21 captain, made great strides down the right flank before picking out Murphy with a precise cut back.

The Motherwell attacker steadied himself before thrashing home his first goal at this level on only his second appearance. That sent squeals of excitement reverberating around the youthful crowd but home histrionics would survive just six minutes until the visitors equalised.

A long ball forward was flicked on by Andrew Little for Josh McQuoid to dink over Martin, the goalkeeper injuring himself in the process.

The change of goalkeeper did little to improve Scotland's fortunes as Northern Ireland forged in front with a goal not dissimilar to their opener. Another punt forward was not ably dealt with by either Jamie Duff or Alex Pearce in the centre of defence and when Gallacher came dashing out to intervene, McQuoid calmly lifted the ball over him and placed it in the back of the net.

Scotland's response was another Murphy shot, this time from a Chris Maguire corner, that struck the outside of the post and rolled to safety.

The home side were presented with an even better chance to draw level just before half-time. Craig Cathcart sent Kevin McDonald sprawling to the turf but Trevor Carson, the Sunderland goalkeeper, plunged to his right to keep out Scott Arfield's penalty kick.

The second half brought more misery for the hosts. Stark's drastically reshuffled side were yet to settle when they found themselves further behind. David Gray, moved inside from full-back, proved himself no better than the departed Duff at clearing his lines and Andrew Little, the Rangers striker, thrashed Shane Ferguson's headed pass mercilessly past Gallacher, his club mate to seal the win.