Soccer
Melissa Andreatta says debut Scotland defeat gives her ‘baseline’ to work from
Melissa Andreatta claimed her debut defeat as Scotland Women head coach gave her a “baseline” to work from going forward.
A 1-0 loss to Austria in the Nations League Group A1 clash at Hampden Park confirmed relegation from the top flight of the competition for the Scots.
The visitors scored the winner in the 62nd minute when attacker Julia Hickelsberger glanced in a header at the near post from a corner.
Although the home side finished the game stronger, Andreatta’s new charges ended the match still bottom of the table without a point in five games and will be playing in League B in the next Nations League campaign.
The former Matildas assistant has another chance to put her stamp on the squad when they face the Netherlands away on Tuesday night in their final fixture before they start preparing for the World Cup qualifiers later in the year.
Andreatta said: “What I’ve taken is a baseline.
“There’s one thing to be training and doing what we’re doing and players executing what we’re asking of them in a training session and it’s another to do it in a match and in a match with that context behind it.
“So I think I have a good baseline now to understand where we’re at, in order for us to progress to where we want to be.
“I think you could tell by the fans (second half), there was a frustration, but I think the key part that I take from that is that we had players that took on the information at half-time and made some adjustments to what we were doing and trying to do – and they did that well.
“And then, together with the subs, who were a combination of experienced players and emerging players, they brought on the energy and had a real impact.
“So while it was frustrating not to get some reward from that impact and those changes, I know where we are now, and it’s given me some ideas, moving forward.”
Rachel Corsie, 35, who is retiring from football at the end of the game against Netherlands on Tuesday, started on the bench and came on at the beginning of the second half to win her 155th cap and play at Hampden Park for the last time.
Andreatta added: “I’m sure for her, there would have been a lot of emotion and having friends and family there for sure.
“But what I know about Rachel is she’s a real team person and she’ll be more hurt for the team that we didn’t get the result that we all want.
“But she’ll quickly refocus as a leader and professional that she is and help the team to bounce back because that’s what we need to do now.”
