Burley begins Scotland reign with Croatia draw

Croatian footballer Ivika Olic (L) wrestles for the ball against Scotland's Gary Caldwell during a friendly game at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Scotland secured a morale-boosting 1-1 draw at home to Euro 2008 qualifiers Croatia here on Wednesday to hand new manager George Burley a promising start in his first game in charge.

In the friendly match at Hampden Park, played in front of 28,821 fans, it was the visitors who took an early lead through Nico Kranjcar before Kenny Miller levelled with his 11th international goal.

At times Scotland had struggled to live with the Croatians, who demonstrated the abilities that took them through to the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland and knock England out in the process.

But there was plenty of positives for Burley as he prepares to lead Scotland into the 2010 World Cup qualifiers in September.

"For me Croatia are one of the best teams in Europe and they showed that in their qualifying group and performances against England," said Burley, a former elegant fullback for the national side.

"We had to work very hard when we went a goal down to stay in the game and we showed a lot of commitment and an excellent attitude.

"To come back the way we did against a team like Croatia is very pleasing and I thought it was fairly even by the end."

Croatia manager Slaven Bilic was also impressed with Scotland's performance.

He said: "It was a very competitive match and great preparation for us.

"I'm happy with the way we played as Scotland have a lot of good players like Alan Hutton, Kenny Miller, Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown and have a very solid team.

"Even under pressure they keep the ball well and there is definitely room for optimism ahead of their World Cup campaign."

Croatia had opened the scoring with the first shot of the match in the 10th minute.

Luka Modric collected a quick throw-in, before rolling the ball into the path of Kranjcar and he took a touch before firing an 18-yard shot into the centre of the net.

Although the Portsmouth player's powerful shot swerved wickedly in mid-air, Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon would have been disappointed he was so easily deceived by the flight of the ball and could only slump to his knees as it flew past him.

Scotland were chasing shadows at this stage as Croatia effortlessly passed the ball around, but in the 31st minute Scotland were level.

A long ball forward by Hibernian forward Steven Fletcher, making his international debut, skimmed off the wet surface to send Miller scampering in on goal.

The Derby striker controlled the ball and from a tight angle smashed a left-foot shot towards goal which deflected off defender Josip Simunic, over goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa and into the roof of the net.

Scotland almost took a surprise lead in the 51st minute when Miller's header beat Pletikosa but was nodded off the line by Danijel Pranjic.

At the other end, Kranjcar's low shot in the 56th minute was flicked on by Ivika Olic on the six-yard box, forcing Gordon to make a superb point-blank save and defender Gary Caldwell managed to make a last gasp tackle to clear the rebound.

Only another wonderful stop by Gordon kept the scores level in the 68th minute.

Substitute Igor Budan was sent in on goal and his right-foot shot from 12-yards was destined for the bottom corner of the net until the Sunderland goalkeeper stuck out his right arm to deflect the ball over.

Kris Boyd, who had replaced Shaun Maloney, had a chance to hand Scotland a dramatic late winner when Hutton slid the ball into his path in the 84th minute but his shot from 12-yards was pushed round the post by Pletikosa.