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Top of the Match
Žydrūnas Karčemarskas
Lithuania
Lithuania
David Weir
Scotland
Scotland
Flop of the Match
Steven Naismith
Scotland
Scotland
Scott Brown
Scotland
Scotland
Goal.com Rating 
Fans' Rating Euro 2012 Qualifier: Lithuania 0-0 Scotland - Craig Levein's side fail to capitalise on domination as match ends in stalemate
Foul ridden draw does Scots no favours...
By Matthew Harold
Scotland dropped two vital points in their Euro 2012 Group I campaign away to a gritty Lithuania side in Kaunas as the Scots look to make their first major tournament since 1998.
Craig Levein’s side started a lot brighter than they did in their previous game against Sweden, with both David Weir and Stephen McManus controlling the defence for the Scots.
The first half was littered with fouls from both sides, with Turkish referee Cuneyt Çakır becoming impatient with both sets of players as he dispensed yellow cards to both Tadas Kijanskas and Ramunas Radavicius of Lithuania and Scott Brown for Scotland.
Brown was the first to have a chance for the visitors, but he had a fresh air shot after being played in by Steven Naismith from the left hand side.
The first chance for Lithuania came a quarter of an hour into the game, when Saulius Mikoliunas had looked to have fouled David Weir, but the referee waved play on and the ball eventually arrived at the feet of the former Hearts winger, luckily for Levein’s side goalkeeper Allan McGregor stood up well to palm the ball away, to keep the sides level.
For the rest of the half Scotland continued to dominate, with Barry Robson being the architect of most of the chances as a result of the free kicks that the home side conceded. But the Middlesbrough midfielder couldn’t find a way by Zydrunas Karcemarskas in the Lithuania goal.
Just before the half hour mark Scotland had a claim for a penalty, when Naismith went down in the box after a vicious Robson strike had been palmed away by Karcemarskas, unfortunately for Naismith the referee waved away his claims.
The best chance for Levein’s side came when Darren Fletcher floated a free kick, which McManus got his right foot to, luckily for the home side the ball went wide of the goal to keep the sides level.
With five minutes left in the first half Mikoliunas, who was a target of abuse from the visiting fans, went down in the box after a challenge from Brown, but once again the Turkish official was not interested in awarding a spot kick.
Three minutes into the second half, Scotland had probably their best chance of the game, when Robson’s pinpoint cross from the right hand side landed at Kenny Miller’s head, only for the Rangers striker to direct the ball straight to the hands of Karčemarskas.
Then just before the hour mark Scotland had another excellent chance when Fletcher floated a ball towards Alan Hutton, who then found Naismith in the penalty area, but he could not direct his shot into the Lithuanian net.
A minute later the home side could have gone into the lead, when Tomas Danilevičius managed to round McGregor in the goal, only to see the ball cleared by the Scotland defence to keep the score line blank.
With just over a quarter of the game left, Levein decided to change his team by taking off Robson and bringing on talismanic forward James McFadden, which nearly worked straight away as the Birmingham man danced into the box, but could not finish.
Naismith was the next to have a chance as he got on the end of a cross after McFadden had missed his header, but the Rangers winger took far too long over the chance and it was snuffed out by the Lithuanian defence.
A minute into injury time Scotland had their last chance of the game as McFadden won a corner, but the Scots could not get a shot off after substitute Christophe Berra headed the ball towards the penalty spot after the cross ball.
That was the last for the Scots as the goalless draw leaves them knowing that they must win against Liechtenstein on Tuesday to save the campaign.
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Craig Levein’s side started a lot brighter than they did in their previous game against Sweden, with both David Weir and Stephen McManus controlling the defence for the Scots.
The first half was littered with fouls from both sides, with Turkish referee Cuneyt Çakır becoming impatient with both sets of players as he dispensed yellow cards to both Tadas Kijanskas and Ramunas Radavicius of Lithuania and Scott Brown for Scotland.
Brown was the first to have a chance for the visitors, but he had a fresh air shot after being played in by Steven Naismith from the left hand side.
The first chance for Lithuania came a quarter of an hour into the game, when Saulius Mikoliunas had looked to have fouled David Weir, but the referee waved play on and the ball eventually arrived at the feet of the former Hearts winger, luckily for Levein’s side goalkeeper Allan McGregor stood up well to palm the ball away, to keep the sides level.
For the rest of the half Scotland continued to dominate, with Barry Robson being the architect of most of the chances as a result of the free kicks that the home side conceded. But the Middlesbrough midfielder couldn’t find a way by Zydrunas Karcemarskas in the Lithuania goal.
Just before the half hour mark Scotland had a claim for a penalty, when Naismith went down in the box after a vicious Robson strike had been palmed away by Karcemarskas, unfortunately for Naismith the referee waved away his claims.
The best chance for Levein’s side came when Darren Fletcher floated a free kick, which McManus got his right foot to, luckily for the home side the ball went wide of the goal to keep the sides level.
With five minutes left in the first half Mikoliunas, who was a target of abuse from the visiting fans, went down in the box after a challenge from Brown, but once again the Turkish official was not interested in awarding a spot kick.
Three minutes into the second half, Scotland had probably their best chance of the game, when Robson’s pinpoint cross from the right hand side landed at Kenny Miller’s head, only for the Rangers striker to direct the ball straight to the hands of Karčemarskas.
Then just before the hour mark Scotland had another excellent chance when Fletcher floated a ball towards Alan Hutton, who then found Naismith in the penalty area, but he could not direct his shot into the Lithuanian net.
A minute later the home side could have gone into the lead, when Tomas Danilevičius managed to round McGregor in the goal, only to see the ball cleared by the Scotland defence to keep the score line blank.
With just over a quarter of the game left, Levein decided to change his team by taking off Robson and bringing on talismanic forward James McFadden, which nearly worked straight away as the Birmingham man danced into the box, but could not finish.
Naismith was the next to have a chance as he got on the end of a cross after McFadden had missed his header, but the Rangers winger took far too long over the chance and it was snuffed out by the Lithuanian defence.
A minute into injury time Scotland had their last chance of the game as McFadden won a corner, but the Scots could not get a shot off after substitute Christophe Berra headed the ball towards the penalty spot after the cross ball.
That was the last for the Scots as the goalless draw leaves them knowing that they must win against Liechtenstein on Tuesday to save the campaign.
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