Burley off to a draw thanks to Miller goal

KENNY MILLER gave Scotland hope for the future with a fierce strike to spare new manager George Burley from a debut defeat against Croatia at Hampden.

The country who ended England’s Euro 2008 hopes looked set to claim another British scalp when Portsmouth’s Nico Kranjcar claimed the opener early on before Miller ensured an encouraging start to Burley’s tenure.

A constant downpour all day did little to help boost the crowd of just over 28,000 but it was an early opener from Croatia, rather than the weather, which threatened to put a dampener on the match.

Luka Modric supplied the pass and Craig Gordon appeared to be caught cold in the Scotland goal as Kranjcar rifled high into the middle of the net from 25 yards.

To their credit, Scotland refused to crumble. Miller came off worse in a tussle with Josip Simunic and nodded over from Shaun Maloney’s resultant free-kick, before restoring parity with half an hour gone.

The Derby striker raced onto a long ball down the left flank from Steven Fletcher before despatching an angled drive into the back of the net despite the best efforts of Simunic to block the effort.

Jay McEveley, Gary Teale, Russell Anderson, Graham Alexander and Kris Boyd all came off the bench before the end for a taste of the action, with the introduction of Boyd prompting the biggest reaction from the crowd who were still hopeful of a winner.

His stray boot did catch the head of the unfortunate Vedran Corluka late on but it was not quite the knockout blow Scotland had in mind.

SCOTLAND: Gordon, Hutton, Naysmith (McEveley 62), Caldwell (Anderson 70), McManus, Darren Fletcher (Alexander 90), Hartley, Brown (Teale 66), Maloney (Boyd 72), Miller, Steven Fletcher (Rae 46).

CROATIA: Pletikosa, Robert Kovac (Knezevic 73), Corluka (Simic 85), Simunic, Srna (Leko 63), Nico Kovac (Vukojevic 46), Modric, Kranjcar, Pranjic, Petric (Klasnic 58), Olic (Budan 57).

Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway).