Scotland 0 Serbia 0: no opening day joy for Levein

Saturday 8 September 2012

Scotland had to settle for a 0-0 home draw against Serbia in their opening World Cup qualifier at Hampden today.

Craig Levein's men enjoyed a succession of corners and free kicks in good positions but created few clear-cut chances, adding to the pressure for a victory when Macedonia visit Glasgow on Tuesday. Scotland are alrady two points behind group leaders Croatia and Belgium.

And the disappointment of an opening draw could have been worse: Alan McGregor had to pull off a fine save in the closing minutes as solid Serbia counter-attacked. The Hampden crowd were on their feet in the opening minutes when Steven Naismith burst through on goal but the Serbs were able to clear for a corner that Scotland failed to capitalise on. The visitors then had the chance to pile on some early pressure with a free-kick 30 yards out but McGregor did well to block a curling effort from Aleksandar Kolarov. A period of pressure followed from the Scots and Robert Snodgrass was denied the opener from close range by a save from Vladimir Stojkovic at the near post. Snodgrass had another chance, this time from a quick Charlie Adam free-kick, but again the goalkeeper reacted well and blocked the effort. The Norwich midfielder then turned provider for Naismith at the back post but his header drifted past the upright as the home side continued to press for the opener. Matija Nastasic picked up the first booking for a challenge on Alan Hutton, who was fortunate not to be shown at least a yellow card for a foul of his own on Milos Ninkovic. The Scots could have opened the scoring just before the break when Adam released Miller and his cross-shot dipped just over the crossbar, with James Morrison unmarked in front of goal. Serbia looked livelier after the restart but it was Scotland who carved out the first real chance of the second half. A Snodgrass corner found Berra, who nodded across the face of goal, but Miller just failed to connect at the back post and the chance was lost. At the other end, Aleksandar Ignjovski unleashed a powerful shot that fizzed over the crossbar, before Kolarov drove across the face of goal and just past the post. Scotland should have opened the scoring when Caldwell released Naismith into the box and the Everton man looked set to leave the net bulging but somehow dragged wide of target instead. Craig Levein threw on substitutes James Forrest, Jordan Rhodes and Jamie Mackie in the final quarter but to no avail.

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Scotland 0 Serbia 0: no opening day joy for Levein

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