It was a resounding 4-0 victory over Israel for the young Scots at Ainslie Park - a brace from Rebecca Taylor and goals from Lisa Forrest and Laura Berry secured the win in the round two UEFA Women’s European Qualifiers.

The three-team tournament kicked off in freezing conditions in Edinburgh after the green light from a morning pitch inspection. From the first whistle, Scotland were on the front foot.

It only took Rebecca Taylor 3 minutes to open the scoring after some fantastic link up play. Despite dominating possession, the young side had to wait until the 77th minute before doubling their lead.

It was Taylor who got her second of the game which opened the flood gates for substitute Lisa Forrest to make it 3-0 on 81 minutes, before Laura Berry topped it off with a magnificent free-kick just outside the 18-yard box deep into injury time.  

Head coach, Pauline MacDonald: “We’re happy with our style and how we executed the game plan - there are so many positives to take forward into our next game.

“We dominated possession of the ball and we were happy to get that early goal. However, Israel grew back into the game in the second-half, and I felt we probably just needed to be a bit more composed.

“Overall, 4-0 gives us the credit we are due for the performance, but I still think we need to be more clinical in front of goal.”

Speaking about winger Taylor’s contribution, MacDonald added: “Rebecca is a confident and powerful player who has the ability to draw defenders in and use her power to get around them.

“She has great confidence in her own ability, and I think the link up play for the first goal was excellent. She’ll probably say that she prefers her second goal which was pretty special, but I think there was a bit of luck there. All in all, a great performance.”

Impact sub Lisa Forrest made her presence felt immediately as Israel struggled to contain her. 15 minutes after her introduction, the forward bagged a goal: “To be able to bring a player of Lisa’s quality off the bench is a great position for us to be in,” MacDonald said.

“It also allowed us to change the shape today as well as engage in the direct play and make the most of that presence that Lisa brings, which is a huge positive for us.”

Scotland are back in action on Wednesday 15th March in the second, and final, game of the group against Georgia at Ainslie Park.