Beattie despondent but unbowed

Jennifer Beattie described Scotland's 5-1 loss to Germany which ended their chances of advancing to the last four as "the hardest defeat I've had to take" – some statement from a player who has featured for the senior national team and in the latter stages of Europe's premier women's club competition.

Beattie turned 19 earlier this month, but has achieved a lot in her short career. She made her full international debut as a 17-year-old in 2008, appeared in both legs of Scotland's play-off loss to Russia in qualifying for UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009 and suffered quarter-final disappointment as her club, Arsenal LFC, were eliminated by FCR 2001 Duisburg in this season's UEFA Women's Champions League.

Those, however, do not compare to the events which unfolded on Thursday in Skopje, where Scotland matched Germany stride for stride in the searing heat before conceding three times in the final eight minutes. Those late goals, says Beattie, did not do Scotland's performance justice. "This is definitely the hardest defeat I've had to take," she told UEFA.com.

"In every previous game against Germany they scored seven, eight or even nine goals, but this was the most confident we had been as a squad coming into play them so it's disappointing to lose by so many. I definitely didn't think it was a five-goal game."

As much as the manner of the loss hurts, Beattie – whose father and brother have both represented the Scottish rugby union side – is now training her focus on recording her team's first points in Sunday's final Group A fixture against Italy. "It's onwards and upwards for us, definitely," she said. "We're confident going into the match even though this was really hard to take. We've got a great squad and we'll bounce back. We've got a great chance of getting at least a point; hopefully all three."

Having seen Germany and England at close quarters in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, she is more qualified than most to offer an opinion on who will take top spot in the group. "[Germany] have a great chance," added Beattie, who played on the right of midfield against England before dropping into central defence on Thursday in the absence of injured captain Rachael Small.

"The England-Germany game will be great to watch because they've played each other previously and England came out on top. Everyone had a good chance here; it was a pretty difficult group."