BRAVE SCOTS FRUSTRATE DUTCH

Scotland hampered Holland’s preparations for this summer’s Euro 2000 tournament by holding the co-hosts to a goalless draw in Arnhem. A dogged performance by Craig Brown’s side severely stifled the Dutch chances at goal although the Scots almost claimed the scalp of another of Europe’s top nations.

The goalscoring hero in the away wins over Germany and England last year, Don Hutchison, saw a first half header hit the post. Goalkeeper Neil Sullivan was stretched in the second half when Patrick Kluivert had a couple of chances but the Scots remained resilient.

The Dutch have now drawn 11 of their 15 matches under coach Frank Rijkaard, winning two and losing two. The home side were understandably the first to probe and came close through Arthur Numan and Dennis Bergkamp who volleyed straight at Sullivan. The visitors looked to counter-attack when possible but Holland’s defence, minus Manchester United’s Jaap Stam who was on the bench, dealt with any potential danger.

At the other end, players with Premiership connections were all lining up but squandered chance after chance. Marc Overmars fired over and former Leeds forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink set up Bergkamp but he sidefooted wide. Their failure in front of goal was nearly punished when Billy Dodds found Hutchison whose fierce shot was saved by Edwin van der Sar. The Everton man came even closer just before the interval when his diving header from a Neil McCann cross rebounded off the post.

The Barcelona pair of Patrick Kluivert and Boudewijn Zenden replaced the Arsenal duo of Bergkamp and Overmars for the second half and they both tested Neil Sullivan. The Wimbledon keeper had to use his feet to deny Kluivert and be acrobatic to deny a Zenden cross drifting into the net on 77 minutes. Seconds later he brilliantly pushed away an angled drive from the busy Kluivert. Scotland were on the backfoot by now and Pierre van Hooijdonk almost marked his arrival by finding a winner only to screw a shot wide from 12 yards out with four minutes remaining.

Holland: van der Sar, Ooijer, Konterman, F. de Boer, Numan, Bosvelt, Makaay (Talan 60), Davids, Hasselbaink (van Hooijdonk 84), Bergkamp (Kluivert 46), Overmars (Zenden 46). Subs Not Used: Reiziger, Cocu, Bogarde, Seedorf, Westerveld, van Bronckhorst, Winter, Stam. Booked: Kluivert.

Scotland: Sullivan, Dailly (O'Neil 85), Ritchie, Weir, Elliott, Lambert, Dodds, Burley (Durrant 46), McNamara, Hutchison, N. McCann. Subs Not Used: Gould, Holt, Johnston, Cameron, Burchill. Booked: Hutchison, Dailly.

Ref: H Strampe (Germany).

Scotland manager Craig Brown paid tribute to his side's courageous goalless draw against Holland in Arnhem and insisted he knew there was never any prospect of his players letting him down. Brown singled out Wimbledon keeper Neil Sullivan for making a couple of vital saves in the second half but wasn’t at all surprised by the scoreline.

"I'm always the super optimist and I'm always optimistic about the Scottish team because I trust them implicitly,” enthused Brown. "When I send them out to do a certain job I know they will do it for me - and that includes the simple things like one of the two strikers tracking back from midfield if we lose the ball. "I don't want to focus on the keeper because I think there was more to our performance than that but I thought Neil Sullivan was magnificent tonight.

"Unfortunately we are sometimes the kind of team which needs a good goalkeeper.Neil has had to follow Jim Leighton and Andy Goram in becoming Scotland number one, but he gave a performance tonight which shows he has their all round ability. "He comes for crosses and makes good saves and has now done a lot to improve his work on the ground as well. But this was a team performance which carried on from the way we played against England in November.

"We were strong at the back, where Matt Elliott showed the kind of form he has often done for Leicester. He proved tonight what everyone in England knows which is that he is a fine centre back and David Weir was excellent alongside him. "I think under the circumstances tonight was as well as the team could have played. We had to defend more than I would have wanted us to, but did still create a couple of good chances. "I thought Don Hutchison had done it again for us when his header hit the woodwork. The missing players could have improved us but this gives us huge optimism for the World Cup campaign."

Don Hutchison, who has scored memorable winning goals against both Germany and England, was delighted to turn the heat on the Dutch as Scotland refused to wilt under the pressure. He said: "With the retractable roof on this stadium it was a bit like playing in a sauna at times and this is the first time I have experienced something like that, so it was a great team performance from everyone to claim this result. "It was a great cross from Neil McCann which led to my effort against the post and it was just unfortunate for me that it never went in because in the second half we really had to defend. "There were some fantastic saves from Neil Sullivan and I think this performance shows that we can be quite a decent side because the one thing you can always be sure of is our work rate. "We always graft hard and everyone goes out and gives 100% for the cause."