Scotland v Netherlands
UEFA Women’s Nations League – League A – Group 1
Tuesday, 25th February 2025
Hampden Park, Glasgow  

Scorers

Scotland 1 – (Emma Lawton 34’)

Netherlands 2 (Lineth Beerensteyn 54’, Chasity Grant 64’)

Team News

Interim manager Michael McArdle made five changes to the team that started Friday night’s 1-0 defeat to Austria. Amy Muir, Sam Kerr, Chelsea Cornet, Martha Thomas and Claire Emslie all dropped out and they were replaced by Rachel McLauchlan, Kirsty MacLean, Leah Eddie, Lauren Davidson and Eilidh Adams.

In other news, Nicola Docherty was called into the squad earlier this week following injuries to Amy Muir and Mia McAulay that forced the pair to drop out of contention for Tuesday evening’s match.

Kirsty Smith reached her 60th cap for Scotland, coming on to replace Emma Lawton on 85 minutes.

As It Happened

The Netherlands got proceedings underway in front of 3,183 fans at the National Stadium as both sides went in search of their first victory of the 2025 UEFA Women’s Nations League – League A – Group 1 campaign.

The first chance of the match fell to the Dutch on five minutes when Rood was picked out from a cutback inside the penalty area. The midfielder turned well but her shot fell comfortably wide of target.

Five minutes later, Lee Gibson was called into action for the first time, saving brilliantly down to her left from a Miedema header that looked destined to break the deadlock early on.

Netherlands continued to look the more dangerous of the two going forward, despite the Scots enjoying some good spells of possession. Grant found herself in a good position in the Scotland penalty area before sending in a shot that was held comfortably by Lee Gibson.

Moments later and Beerensteyn found herself in behind the Scotland defence on the right, though the pacy winger’s shot went well past the post after Gibson did well to narrow the angle.

After surviving the wave of early Dutch pressure, it was Scotland who took the lead in the 34th minute through Emma Lawton. Following a corner, the ball fell to Rachel McLauchlan on the edge of the area whose shot was deflected into the path of Lawton who kept her composure to smash the ball past van Domselaar in the Netherlands goal.

Scotland grew in confidence after scoring the opener and should have had a second on the stroke of half time. Great work from Caroline Weir in midfield set Lauren Davidson away on the left, who swung in a great cross that was met by Kirsty Hanson though her effort was somehow saved by the goalkeeper meaning the scores stayed at one nil heading into the break.  

The visitors, as expected, started the second half brightly. Rood went close to scoring directly from an in-swinging corner, forcing an excellent stop from Gibson. Then from the resulting corner, Brugts attempted to divert a header goalward though her effort ultimately fell wide of Gibson’s near post.

The visitors drew level on 53 minutes through Beerensteyn. The winger showed incredible skill to dance past three Scotland defenders, making no mistake with the finish as she slotted the ball past Gibson with the outside of her left foot to equalise.

The response to the equaliser from Scotland was excellent. Following a great exchange between Weir and Davidson, the forward found herself in space on the edge of the box. Davidson looked to find the bottom left-hand corner with her eventual shot falling narrowly wide of target on 61 minutes.

Moments later, the Scots were hit with a sucker punch as Miedema found Grant in the six-yard box, who made no mistake in giving the visitors the lead, with Lee Gibson left helpless as the Dutch winger tapped home into an empty net.

The visitors pressed for more goals as the game entered its final 20 minutes and should have added a third through Roord when she was picked out just inside the box from a cut back, though her effort flew just over the crossbar.

Michael McArdle made several changes to freshen up the squad in search of an equaliser late on, with the closest chance for Scotland coming through a mistake from the visitors’ defence in which Freya Gregory pounced on, finding Martha Thomas who laid it off for Weir on the edge, though the Real Madrid midfielder’s shot was well blocked by the Netherlands defence.

Netherlands sub Leuchter should have put the game to bed in the final minute of the 90 as she was picked out by Brugts in the penalty area, though the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder squandered her chance to volley home for number three.

That proved to be the last action of note in the match, with the Netherlands taking home all three points. Scotland pressed continuously for an equaliser late on though unfortunately they were made to rue missed chances earlier on in the evening as Michael McArdle’s side remain on zero points in UEFA Women’s Nations League – League A – Group 1.

Teams

Scotland: Gibson, Lawton (Smith 86’), Eddie, Howard, Weir, Hanson (Gregory 69’), Adams (Adams 69’), McLauchlan, Clark (Kerr 75’), MacLean, Davidson (Emslie 69’)

Unused Substitutes: Clachers, Cumings, Docherty, Cornet, Watson, Shore

Netherlands: Domselaar, Casparij, Spitse, Janssen, Brugts, Kaptein, Groenen, Roord, Grant (Leuchter 65’), Miedema (Snoeijs 71’), Beerensteyn

Unused Substitutes: Bayings, Buurman, De Jong, Dijkstra, Jansen, Kop, Ripa, Van Der Zanden, van Dongen, Wilms