Austria sunk by O'Connor strike

Scotland edged to a confidence-boosting 1-0 win against UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts Austria on Wednesday night as Garry O'Connor scored the only goal of the game in Vienna.

Boyd chances
The visitors had enjoyed the better of the chances in the first half but it was just as Austria began to look threatening that O'Connor struck, finishing off a fine move involving Paul Hartley and Kris Boyd on 58 minutes. Boyd had twice spurned chances before the break, shooting narrrowly wide following a fine run and cross by Gary Naysmith on the quarter-hour mark and then missing his kick when Darren Fletcher played him in five minutes before the interval.

O'Connor strike
The hosts had briefly threatened when Mario Haas warmed Allan McGregor's palms with a fierce shot on 38 minutes and Andreas Ivanschitz brought a save out of substitute goalkeeper Craig Gordon seven minutes into the second half. But Scotland held firm after O'Connor, of FC Lokomotiv Moskva, cut in from the left and struck with a low shot from 14 metres. Boyd missed again after Shaun Maloney's pass gave him a sight on goal on 66 minutes and almost paid dearly when Markus Katzer hit the bar in the last minute but Scotland will take heart from victory ahead of their UEFA EURO 2008™ Group B trip to Faroe Islands on 6 June.