Burley pleased with effort

New boss pleased after first game in charge

By Steve Pass   Last updated: 26th March 2008

George Burley Scotland v Croatia

Burley: Pleased

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George Burley was pleased with his players' commitment after Scotland battled back to draw 1-1 with classy Croatia at Hampden Park.

In his first game in charge, Burley's team went behind in the 10th minute when Niko Kranjcar beat Craig Gordon with a fantastic dipping shot from the edge of the box.

But the hard-working Kenny Miller replied on 30 minutes when his deflected shot beat Stipe Pletikosa.

Both sides then had chances in the second period, with the Scots almost snatching victory in injury time when captain Stephen McManus headed wide under pressure from a corner.

Worked hard

Asked if he was satisfied with Scotland's performance, Burley told Sky Sports 2: "Yes, Croatia are a top class side and we needed to work very hard to contain them. They pass it, their movement is excellent, it wasn't the best start in the world conceding a goal but we worked hard to get back into it.

"It was very competitive, so overall the players couldn't have put more effort into it."

Asked if he was pleased with the shape and organisation of the team, he replied: "I think there is still work to be done - at times we, maybe early on, our wide players were pushed too far back - we wanted them to help the striker more.

"But overall I thought against an excellent side it was a good performance."

Great experience

Steven Fletcher made his debut on his 21st birthday but was injured and only played 45 minutes.

Burley admitted: "You can see this boy's got quality - it was great experience for him tonight against one of the best teams in Europe and I would have liked to have kept him on for a bit longer. Hopefully his injury is not too bad."

Asked what more he would like to see from the team and players in the future, he said: "Well, they gave it everything. We've actually got one or two personnel missing, we can add to it.

"But overall against Croatia I thought a draw is not a bad result but there's plenty to work at and hopefully we can keep improving."