SCOTLAND'S kids were swatted aside by England in an embarrassingly one-sided encounter in the final match of the Euro Elite Round in Belgium.

Ricky Sbragia's side were completely brushed aside and bullied by the English in Westerlo and finished bottom of their group behind shock winners Georgia, the hosts and the Auld Enemy.

For a group of kids hailed as being the most talented kids for a generation by SFA Performance Director Mark Wotte, the Dutchman must have watched this lesson last night through his fingers as the young Scots were totally outclassed. They underachieved badly in the tournament and to not manage a single shot on target last night was desperately poor. They were fortunate England missed a host of chances and were lucky to escape with a semi-respectable defeat. This could have been very nasty.

Sbragia admitted there was a huge gulf in class. He said: "I thought today was men v boys to be honest. We gave the ball away too much, but even with that they overran us in general. We didn't have a particularly good campaign, but that's football and I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I think we were well beaten today.

"They dominated every area of the pitch. The last 10 minutes of the game showed how good they were and they even took their foot of the gas a little bit. We couldn't get out and we kept giving the ball away. We've got so many of our players playing in the SPL and they've looked ordinary against this lot."

The pattern was set early on and Reading keeper Jonny Henly was called into action in the 12th minute when he made a sharp stop low to his right to keep out a free-kick from Chelsea midfielder Lewis Baker, and the keeper made another reflex stop soon after to turn Arsenal striker Chuba Akpom's stabbed shot wide.

It was no surprise when the English took a 17th-minute lead when Spurs kid Shaquile Coulthirst latched on to a pass from Newcastle United's Adam Campbell that split the Scots' defence wide open and gave Henley no chance with a composed finish.

John Souttar helped team-mate Mark O'Hara out then, after the Killie youngster gave the ball away, by making a superb block on Chelsea's John Swift right in front of goal.

Dundee United's Ryan Gauld tried to draw the Scots level when he slid in at the back post to try to connect with John Herron's free-kick, but he couldn't quite direct the ball on target from an acute angle.

England doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute when Henly brought down Paul Scholes-lookalike Campbell after spilling the ball when sliding out for it and Chelsea's Lewis Baker tucked home the resulting spot kick.

It was damage limitation for Scotland in the second half and they at least defended better. Celtic's John Herron almost grabbed a consolation with a header that floated wide. Arsenal's Chuba Akpom slotted home the third with 16 minutes left and the Scots were just pleased when the Spanish referee ended a tough evening. This was a terrible beating for the young Scots.

Scotland Henley; Grimmer, Davey, Souttar, O'Hara; McGinn (Lindsay 70), Gauld (Kennedy 70), Herron; King, McManus (Beck 56), Fraser