UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2022/23 Qualifying Round 
Scotland 1-3 France
Somerset Park, Ayr 
Tuesday, 22 November 2022 

Scorers

Scotland 1: Carse (78 pen)

France 3: Tel (20, 29 pen) Diop (31)

As it happened

Billy Stark made four changes to the side that ran out 5-2 winners against Kazakhstan, reintroducing Jacob Blaney, Finlay Pollock, Ben McPherson and Ryan Duncan to the side in place of Jack Harkness, Barry Hepburn, Connor Allan and Dylan Reid. A win would have seen Scotland come second in their group above Iceland to reach the Elite Round

Scotland got off to a strong start against their talented French opponents, with Josh Adam’s marauding run leading to a corner and early pressure for the away side to deal with.

 

However, despite Scotland’s promising opening, France took the lead with 20 minutes on the clock. Bayern Munich wonderkid Mathys Tel raced onto a loose ball and fired beyond Murray Johnson from just outside the box to give his side the advantage.

Duncan nearly gave Scotland an immediate equaliser with a free kick as he had Robin Risser scrambling across his goal line but his effort went agonisingly wide of the target from 25 yards.

France soon made it 2-0. Referee Dumitri Muntean harshly adjudged Ben McPherson to have felled Lesley Ugochukwu in the penalty area, and Tel stepped up to double both his team’s advantage and his goal tally for the evening.

Scotland battled in search of a lifeline but France soon had a third. The ball was played across the penalty area and Edan Diop ghosted in at the back post to head home despite calls for offside.

Scotland came out brightly after the break, and Robbie Ure twice came within inches of connecting with crosses at point-blank range.

Duncan had a rasping long range effort blocked shortly after as Scotland finished strongly.

France also had chances but they were denied on several occasions by alert goalkeeping from Johnson - the Hibs youngster most notably made himself big to deny Diop another goal when he broke free one-on-one.

Scotland then deservedly reduced the deficit with 15 minutes to go. McPherson was upended by Vimoj Munta Wa Mungu, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Skipper Mackenzie Carse led by example and stepped up to slide into the bottom left-hand corner.

In the closing stages of the match, France were reduced to ten men. Marvin De Lima was shown his second yellow card for a late challenge on Carse, having been booked for kicking the ball away only moments earlier.

It had been an impressive second half performance from the Scots but Billy Stark's side ultimately fell just short in their Qualifying Round attempts as they finished third in the group.

Match Report by Ramsay Banks

Scotland line up

Johnson, McPherson, Anderson, Smith, Duncan, Carse, Pollock (Aitken 86’), Adam, Mebude (Hepburn 86’), Ure (Wales 71’), Blaney