Qantas Socceroos sunk by Scotland

The Qantas Socceroos slumped to a disappointing 3-1 loss to Scotland after a sloppy performance in their international friendly in Edinburgh.

The Qantas Socceroos slumped to a disappointing 3-1 loss to Scotland after a sloppy performance in their international friendly in Edinburgh.

A brilliant Mark Bresciano strike gave the Socceroos the lead in the first half, but they went into the break on level terms after Jordan Rhodes equalised at a wet Easter Road.

An own goal from Jason Davidson - just minutes into his debut - on the hour-mark and a Ross McCormack strike sealed a deserved victory for Scotland.

The loss extended Australia's winless run to four - the national team's worst streak since 2000.

In injury news for the Socceroos, Brett Holman came off at half-time after being on the wrong end of a late challenge from Gary Caldwell, putting him in doubt for Aston Villa's English Premier League opener against West Ham on Saturday (local time).

The hosts looked more threatening in the opening exchanges, with Villa full-back Alan Hutton lively down the right.

It took 13 minutes for the first shot on target as Steven Naismith tested Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from 30 yards, but the Fulham shot-stopper was up to the task.

Despite Scotland's early dominance, it was the Socceroos who found the opener in the 18th minute after going close just moments earlier.

A Carney throw-in caught the Scotland defence off guard and Robbie Kruse capitalised, dribbling into the area from the left.

His first touch let him down and his cut-back was deflected out, leading to officials awarding Australia a corner.

Unaware a corner had been awarded, Holman continued to play on and he claimed to have scrambled in the opener as Danny Fox handled on the goal-line, although replays showed the ball had crossed.

But the visitors would open the scoring from the resulting corner once it was finally taken, and in some style thanks to Bresciano.

Bresciano beautifully dealt with the partial clearance from Luke Wilshere's corner, striking a looping first-time volley into the bottom corner, leaving Allan McGregor with no chance.

Scotland needed just 10 minutes to find an equaliser as Rhodes levelled with his first international goal.

The prolific Huddersfield Town striker beat Sasa Ognenovski to a Fox cross from the left, glancing his header past Schwarzer.

With Bresciano and Holman substituted at the break, Australia took time to settle in the second half, with Wilkshire going close in the 59th minute.

Kruse went past Hutton with neat skill down the left, cutting for Wilkshire, whose shot from inside the area was palmed away by substitute goalkeeper Matt Gilks.

Davidson, son of former Socceroos Alan, was rewarded with his first cap on the hour-mark, but it became a debut to forget just moments later.

The 21-year-old was in position to clear a cross from the impressive Fox, but he appeared to try and divert his header into the hands of Adam Federici, only to see him beat his own goalkeeper.

Scotland completed the victory with a quarter of an hour to play after poor defending from the Socceroos.

McCormack evaded the tackles of Ognenovski and Davidson before wrong-footing Federici and placing his shot into the bottom corner.

Ryan McGowan joined Davidson in earning his first cap as Scotland saw out a comfortable win with the Socceroos continuing to struggle in the second half.

Scotland 3 (Jordan Rhodes 28, Jason Davidson 63og, Ross McCormack 76) Australia 1 (Mark Bresciano 18) Crowd: 11,110 @ Easter Road