Scotland boss Shelley Kerr was left frustrated as her team picked up their first defeat of their EURO 2022 Qualification campaign, against Finland in Helsinki on Tuesday night.
Despite dominating the first half and having chances throughout, a goal at the start of the second from former Scotland head coach Anna Signeul’s side was enough to secure victory for the hosts.
The decisive goal came the start of the second half when a corner was cleared off the line from Lizzie Arnot, and Summanen was able to smash the rebound into the net.
The Scots had a number of good chances to equalise but the Finns held on to secure the victory.
After the game Kerr: “It’s frustrating we’ve come away with nothing after putting in all the plans to get the win.
“Credit to Finland who hurt us on the second phase of a set play which normally we would deal with.
“There wasn’t a lot in the game. We controlled more of the game than they did but at the end of the day they’ve got the three points.
“We’re disappointed but we know what’s at stake and what we’ve got to do now. We’ve got to beat a good Portugal team away from home and then beat Finland at home.
“We’ve dropped three points and Finland and Portugal have dropped two so far. Nothing changes for us.
“It’s good that we have two games next month. Hopefully we get some of our players back and we’re in a strong position to get two good results.”
Scotland will travel to Portugal at the end of November before playing Finland in the return match on Tuesday 1 December.
In February next year Scotland’s EURO 2022 qualification campaign will end with matches against Cyprus and Portugal.
Finland: Korpela, Hyyrynen, Öling (Sainio, 84), Koivisto, Alanen, Kuikka, Westerlund, Franssi, Sällström, Collin, Summanen
Unused substitutes: Majasaari, Tamminen, Pikkujämsä, Auvinen, Ahtinen, Kemppi, Heroum, Danielsson, Tunturi, Salmi, Rantala
Scotland: Alexander, Smith, Mitchell, Corsie, Weir, Howard, C. Murray (J. Ross, 76), Emslie, Thomas (Crichton, 62), Cuthbert, Arnot (Hanson, 62)
Unused substitutes: Lynn, Fife, Godfrey, Boyle, Docherty, McLauchlan, Ness, Grant, Graham
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
