Alex McLeish feeling the heat as Scotland suffer loss to second-string Portugal side

Scotland 1 Portugal 3

Defeat by what was effectively Portugal’s reserve side – scarcely mitigated by Steven Naismith’s injury-time strike – added to the pressure heaped on Alex McLeish by Scotland’s dismal performance in their Nations League loss to Israel in Haifa three days previously.

The latest wounds were inflicted by Helder Costa, on the verge of half-time, Eder with a powerful header after 73 minutes and Bruma in the closing stages, before Naismith took the sting out of the gathering jeers when he shot home from an inspired backheeled pass from Gary Mackay-Steven.

McLeish, to be fair, also had to reshuffle his pack and had said beforehand that he would have made changes even had he not been obliged, but his hand was certainly forced by the loss of Blackburn’s Charlie Mulgrew, John Souttar of Hearts, along with West Ham midfielder, Robert Snodgrass and Scott McTominay of Manchester United, all of whom departed the squad because of injury, while Celtic’s Kieran Tierney was allowed to go home because of fatigue.

The reconfigured back line – subject of so much debate and contention in the aftermath of the Israel debacle – had Stephen O’Donnell of St Mirren and his Liverpool counterpart, Andrew Robertson, in their natural full-back positions, with Celtic’s Jack Hendry and Scott McKenna of Aberdeen as the central pair in a back four.

James Forrest, who scored four goals in half an hour for Celtic at St Johnstone the previous Sunday, but did not get a start in Haifa, was in the line-up as right wing-back, with his clubmate, Callum McGregor, on the opposite flank. Oli McBurnie was in the spearhead role for his fourth cap, all of them awarded by McLeish.

Portugal, almost needless to say, came into this game with form that was in marked contrast to Scotland’s, having beaten Italy and Poland in their Nations League group, while their World Cup finals defeat by Uruguay was the only loss in 10 fixtures. Fernando Santos, though, took the chance to refresh his side almost completely, with Cedric of Southampton and his defensive colleague, Ruben Dias of Benfica, the only two to retain their places.

After a rendition of Flower of Scotland which sounded more like a lament than a call to arms, the contest got under way in front of a crowd of 17,455 and in an atmosphere with the ambience of a morgue. By degrees, though, enthusiasm was mustered as Scotland paced their way into the proceedings with a stability that had eluded them on Thursday.

The deployment of a back four allowed Forrest and McGregor to make inroads on the flanks and it was a driven cross from the former which almost produced the opener via the head of Sergio Oliveira, whose misplaced headed clearance was heading for his own net until Beto reacted with a reflex tip over the crossbar.

At the other end of the field Bruma signalled Portuguese menace when he ambushed O’Donnell for a shot which was deflected narrowly past. The mood in the stands improved when Naismith met a whipped cross from Forrest with a cute angled header which wormed just beyond the far post.

Portugal’s response was to increase their tempo and it paid off just before the break when Robertson allowed Helder Costa to get in front of him to turn Kevin Rodrigues’ cutback across the line. It was a hard blow but the Scots might have equalised spectacularly shortly after the interval when John McGinn’s pinpoint corner kick found McKenna for a bulleted header which went narrowly wide of the post.

Portuguese legs proved sturdier than their Scottish equivalent as the proceedings wore on and the game moved out of reach for McLeish and his men when Eder, who had been going to ground whenever McKenna moved into his vicinity, got away with another dive to win a free kick which, to twist the knife, he headed home almost unchecked.

The coup de grace was inflicted by Bruma, after Hendry had fecklessly lost the ball in the Portuguese half. Possession was switched promptly into Scottish territory where Bruma outstripped Graeme Shinnie, who had replaced McGinn, to thrash his finish high into the corner of Gordon’s goal.

Now attention will return to McLeish’s relationship with the disaffected Celtic striker, Leigh Griffiths, whose predatory instincts could be crucial to the Scots’ prospects in their remaining Nations League qualifiers in Albania and home to Israel.