Town keeper Cieran Slicker was handed his full Scotland debut off the bench in the opening minutes and had a tough time as his team, which also featured George Hirst, was beaten 3-1 by Iceland in a friendly at Hampden Park, while Dara O’Shea and Jack Taylor added to their Republic of Ireland caps in a 1-1 friendly in Dublin.

Hirst started for Scotland the first time and won his third cap as the number nine, while Slicker came off the bench in the seventh minute after former Norwich keeper Angus Gunn suffered a knock.

The 22-year-old, who previously captained the Scotland U21s, made a nervy start from which he never recovered, his under-hit pass leading to an Iceland goal within a minute of him coming on, Andri Gudjohnsen curling a shot into the top corner.

Hirst sent a header over which he probably should have scored on 21, then three minutes later had a shot tipped over.

Slicker conceded again just before the break when a corner was defended chaotically and was diverted into the net by defender Lewis Ferguson, the Town keeper having held by an Icelandic attacker as the ball came over.

The former Manchester City man should also have done better in the second half when Victor Palsson’s header went through his hands, making it 3-1.

On 62, Hirst had what would have been his first international goal ruled out for offside following a VAR review before being subbed in the 68th minute.

The frontman was named his side’s man of the match by the BBC Scotland commentary team after what was overall a very poor performance from the Scots. Steve Clarke’s side play another friendly against Liechtenstein in Vaduz on Monday.

Slicker, whose debut had echoes of ex-Blues keeper Richard Wright’s first appearance for England in 2000, joins the likes of Reggie Lambe (Bermuda), Bruce Twamley and Jaime Peters (both Canada), Monty Patterson (New Zealand), Elkan Baggott (Indonesia) and current U21s striker Ash Boatswain (Montserrat) in winning international honours before making a league debut.

Taylor was handed his first Republic of Ireland start, his fourth appearance, and landed awkwardly on his left knee in the first half but carried on until being subbed on 58. O’Shea, making his 34th appearance, played the full 90 minutes. Ireland travel to take on Luxembourg in another friendly on Tuesday.

Blues forward Nathan Broadhead was an unused sub as Wales beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in their opening World Cup qualifier in Cardiff.

Photo: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Miaow added 22:13 - Jun 6 Who put in a worse goalkeeping performance for Scotland, Slicker or Stewart Kennedy at Wembley in 1975?... https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/may/23/kevin-beattie-wembley-england-kenn
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MickMillsTash added 22:33 - Jun 6 Give up Scotland- support Argentina or whatever makes you happy but stop trying to play This is a team with their heralded stars Mctominay, McGinn and Gilmour and they lose at Home to Iceland. Could the SNP run Scottish football worse than Steve Clarke?
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Tractor_Boy_in_HK added 03:25 - Jun 7 This is what happens when you give a player an international debut before he's played one match at any level professional league level. He literally has not played one league match as a professional! Disgraceful for him to be included in the squad actually, and I really hope we loan the lad out this year for the sake of his career.
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ThaiBlue added 06:15 - Jun 7 Is he as bad as muric?
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Orraman added 09:25 - Jun 7 Feel really sorry for the young lad. Having never played a league match he was unexpectedly thrown into a full international and his lack of experience most definitely showed. Hope this performance does not set back his career but he definitely needs to go out on loan to get much needed experience. Good that he had clubmate George Hirst with him for moral support
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Edmundo added 10:37 - Jun 7 The fact he made a debut at full international level, regardless of his performance, is to be celebrated. Hopefully he gets over it - most keepers do - quickly, and gets a chance at L1 or 2 level to blood him at senior level a bit more gently.
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