Croatia in the ascendancy

Two early goals ensured Croatia inflicted a 2-0 defeat on Scotland at home to put themselves in pole position to qualify from the play-offs for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Babic burden
The home side were without injured midfield players Mario Carevic, Ante Tomic and Goran Rubil plus defender Mile Bozic, meaning a key burden fell on Maro Babic and Niko Kranjcar, who narrowly missed out on call-ups for the senior encounter against Slovenia on Saturday. Croatia must now repeat the impressive performance in Edinbugh on Tuesday to assure safe passage.

Dominant force
Coach Martin Novoselec’s team proved the dominant force from the outset, Hrvoje Šafaric shooting a fierce shot just over the bar as early as the fifth minute before brilliantly passing soon after to Babic, who struck from inside the box to open the scoring.

Ljubojevic goal
The goal inspired Croatia, who further increased the pressure on their visitors and were able to double the advantage in the eleventh minute when Goran Ljubojevic fired past goalkeeper Craig Gordon after an incisive pass from NK Osijek team-mate Danijel Pranjic.

Babic again
The home team could be forgiven for relaxing the pace in the remainder of the first half but were nevertheless close to scoring again through the influential Babic, who shot wide from distance in the 26th minute and saw Gordon keep out another effort as the interval approached.

Hungry attacking
Scotland attacked hungrily at the start of the second half with Garry Caldwell shooting over the bar in 51st minute and Michael Stewart skewing wide when he had the time and space inside the box to do better.

Near misses
Croatia did not fashion their first meaningful opportunity after the break until Goran Ljubojevic drilled over in the 71st minute following a cross from Marijan Buljat on the right. Niko Kranjcar also went close in the dying stages but Gordon managed to parry his shot.