SCOTLAND were yesterday left prone in the Euro Elite round of the European Under-19 Championship after a miserable defeat by nine-man Georgia.
Spanish referee Carlos Grande offered the Scots every assistance by sending off two Georgians and awarding the Scots a contentious penalty, which was then spurned by Carlisle United's Mark Beck, when the Scots were 1-0 down to a goal from Nika Kacharava in the second half in Westerlo.
Georgia then exacerbated that open sore when scoring twice in quick succession through Budu Zivziladze and Avlo Endeladze. It did not even seem to register with the former Soviet side when Ryan Fraser scored a consolation goal.
The defeat means that even if the callow Scots defeat England in their final match in the section on Wednesday, they cannot qualify as Georgia now have four points and boast a better head-to-head record.
The disappointment of his side's early departure from the competition will come to disturb the thoughts of Ricky Sbragia, but it was the circumstances surrounding that missed penalty which seemed most pertinent to the Scotland under-19s coach in the aftermath of yesterday's defeat.
"[Beck] doesn't take the penalties. Why was he there? We know who takes them, John Herron takes them, but he wanted to take it," said Sbragia. "He's not allowed to take it, that's not his job to take it.
"So there were things that weren't right. Listen, John might have missed it, but at least we know where we are. We were really poor."
Beck, who scored in a draw with Belgium on Friday, later claimed he was not aware Herron had been given responsibility for spot-kicks – "I thought I'd step up to the plate, I've scored them before for Carlisle" – but the incident only formed part of an uncomfortable performance.
A lethargic start allowed Kacharava to score after 29 minutes, before Georgian right back Davit Mtivlishvili was shown a two yellow cards for identical fouls on Fraser. The penalty award came after 55 minutes when Bachana Arabuli handled the ball and Arabuli became the second Georgian to be sent off, but Scotland fumbled their advantage and instead conceded twice before Fraser's late consolation.
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