An Australian side minus Leeds United striker Mark Viduka deservedly inflicted Scotland’s third consecutive 2-0 defeat at Hampden Park. The Socceroos looked in total control against a Scotland side that looked out of sorts, unable to break down Frank Farina’s well-organised side on a wet night in Glasgow. Craig Brown, who earlier in the day received the good news his side had leapt up five places to number 20 in the official world rankings, would have learnt very little from his team’s performance. Scotland have been in impressive form in their early World Cup qualifying matches, but could not match the pace of the Australians.

The visitors looked at ease from the off and their bright early play was rewarded in the 12th minute. Middlesbrough’s impressive looking midfielder, Paul Okon, who commanded the midfield all night, was instrumental. He played in another player who caught the eye, Feyenoord’s Brett Emerton, who had got behind Colin Cameron to tuck the ball under an advancing Jonathon Gould - in the side only thanks to Neil Sullivan's finger injury.

The Wizards of Oz could have extended their lead two minutes later when an umarked Paul Agostino headed a good chance from a Stan Lazaridis corner over the bar. Three minutes later Birmingham left-winger Lazaridis, who looked dangerous in the first half, saw a 35-yard free-kick cannon off the bar with Gould well beaten. Scotland might have had an equaliser just before half-time when Australian goalkeeper Mark Scwarzer made a superb point-blank save from Don Hutchison's shot. Brown chopped and changed his side in the second period but to no avail.

Not even the experienced defensive duo of Matt Elliott and Colin Hendry, winning his 49th cap, could have prevented a second goal. The win was confirmed as early as the 66th minute when some sloppy defending allowed Viduka’s replacement, David Zdrilic, a free header from a looping Kevin Muscat cross. Zdrilic, who plays for German club , has now scored four goals for his country. With the home crowd either departing early or jeering, Hutchison came close to pulling one back straight away but he drilled a 25-yard shot wide.

Scotland: Gould, Weir (Elliott 46), Boyd, Dailly, O'Neil (Hendry 58), Ferguson, Dodds, Burley (Dickov 63), Cameron (McCann 46), Hutchison, Matteo.
Subs Not Used: Douglas, Ritchie, Pressley.

Australia: Schwarzer, Muscat, Murphy, Okon, Popovic, Skoko (Wehrman 75), Tiatto (Burns 67), Lazaridis, Zdrilic (Zane 90), Emerton, Agostino (Scerjovski 46).
Subs Not Used: Filan, Laybutt, Casserly.

We deserved to lose says Brown

Scotland coach Craig Brownadmitted the 2-0 defeat to Australia was one of the worst performances during his time in charge of the national side. And Derby manager Jim Smith will not have been too pleased either as new signing Brian O'Neil and influential midfield player Craig Burley both picked up injuries which will leave them doubtful for Saturday's crunch relegation clash with Bradford at Pride Park.

"Some of our players have played a lot of matches recently but that is not an excuse," said Brown. "We had a good attendance but we played poorly and let them down. "I am sure we will play better in our World Cup qualification games next year - we will have to. It was arguably one of the worst Scotland performances that I can remember and we deserved to lose. "But though they played better I didn't think they threatened us too much and we created a couple of wonderful chances to score then failed to take them. "Dominic Matteo had a very useful debut considering the number of games he has been involved in recently but there was no faulting any individual. "Collectively we weren't working as a team or passing as we can and we looked short of pace up front."

Australian man of the match and opening goalscorer Brett Emerton declared after: "It's my dream to play for Manchester United". Emerton turned down the opportunity to join Manchester United recently in favour of a move to Dutch side Feyenoord. But after his man of the match display tonight, Emerton hopes the Premiership leaders come knocking again. "I would love to join Manchester United," he said. "It is a dream of mine to play for them and hopefully it will be possible one day. "I thought it would be tougher tonight but we played exceptionally well. We showed a lot of enthusiasm and kept possession very well. We knocked the ball around and made it hard for the Scottish team." mins