Hirst off mark and Adams ends drought in style as Scotland thrash Liechtenstein
George Hirst scored his first international goal and Che Adams grabbed a hat-trick as Scotland eased to a 4-0 victory against Liechtenstein.
Ipswich striker Hirst got Scotland's third goal in the Vaduz friendly early in the second half with a close-range finish on his fourth cap. Adams was on target twice in the first half after scoring only once in his previous 19 internationals and the Torino forward headed home with the last action of the game.
It was a night of firsts for Scotland with Ross Doohan, Josh Doig, Andy Irving, Connor Barron and Kieron Bowie making their debuts and Lennon Miller making an impressive first start with a hand in two goals. Doohan flew in from a family holiday in Turkey after being given his first call-up after injuries to Angus Gunn and Robby McCrorie, and Cieran Slicker's difficult debut in Friday's 3-1 defeat against Iceland. The goalkeeper, recently released by Aberdeen, probably had the quietest game of his career, not needing to make a save and barely touching the ball in the second half.
With Scott McTominay and Kieran Tierney injured, 18-year-old Motherwell midfielder Miller and Adams came in as Steve Clarke arranged his side in a 4-4-2 formation. Anthony Ralston, Jack Hendry and Scott McKenna came into defence as Clarke made six changes to the lineup.
Scotland laboured to narrow wins over Liechtenstein in their only two previous meetings, in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, but there was little doubt about the winner of this encounter from the fourth minute when Adams opened the scoring. Miller's volley was blocked following a corner and the Torino striker hit the rebound into the roof of the net.
Lewis Ferguson missed a decent chance before Adams doubled his tally in the 26th minute. Miller was involved again, winning possession as the home side tried to pass the ball out from the back and setting up Adams to wrongfoot the goalkeeper.
John McGinn had a shot well-saved after Miller's pass inside and Doohan almost got his first taste of meaningful action when Liechtenstein wing-back Kenny Kindle was allowed to run a long way with the ball and get a shot away. His effort just cleared the top corner.
The 1600 away fans were entertained by a Swiss-based pipe band at half-time and they were cheering again within three minutes of the restart. McGinn struck the post from 20 yards before Adams flicked on Ralston's cross for Hirst to convert at the back post.
Sassuolo left-back Doig and West Ham midfielder Irving were brought on for debuts just before the hour mark. Doig got down the left wing to good effect and forced a save before Hibernian striker Bowie and Rangers midfielder Barron entered the fray. Scotland continued to play in the opposition half and Adams headed home substitute Tommy Conway's near-post cross immediately before the full-time whistle.
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Clarke was pleased to see a positive response to Friday's defeat but he said neither match offers any indicator of how his team may perform when their World Cup qualifying campaign begins in September. 'I know my players. I trust my players,' he told BBC Scotland. 'I've had a couple of disappointments, and I know they've always shown the resilience to come back and do what they can do, so it will have no bearing on what's going to happen later in the year, but it's nice to finish this camp with a nice win.
'It's still a disappointing camp because we didn't play as we can play in the home game at Hampden, so I'm certainly going to carry that [disappointment] into August. There was a little bit of hurt and anger in the dressing room, I think you saw that in the first 25 minutes when the players were really on it, so hopefully we can harness that and take that into the autumn games.'
The Scotland manager confirmed after the victory in Liechtenstein that his long-serving assistant, John Carver, is stepping down to focus on his role as head coach of Lechia Gdansk. 'I think the wave goodbye to the crowd was probably a giveaway,' he told BBC Scotland. 'When I approached him to come in and help us, I didn't think he'd be here for five years because he's such a talented coach. We'll miss him, we'll have to look to replace him, and that'll be one of my jobs over the summer.'
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