Austria profit from grand entrance

Debutant Andreas Weimann scored within two minutes of his second-half introduction as Austria bounced back from their opening-day disappointment in Belarus with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at home to Group 10 leaders Scotland.

Dream introduction
After withstanding significant first-half pressure from the visitors, Andreas Herzog's team stepped up a gear after the restart and Aston Villa FC forward Weimann made the crucial breakthrough just before the hour. Having only just come on for Marc Sand, the 18-year-old displayed no rustiness as he fired a blistering effort into the far corner, and but for a goalline clearance from Christopher Mitchell, Atdhe Nuhiu would have made it 2-0 five minutes later.

Hanlon denied
Scotland, who had six points from two UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifiers going into this match, gradually regained composure and almost equalised in the dying minutes when Paul Hanlon rattled the crossbar following a corner. Even if Nuhiu failed to put the match beyond doubt from the resulting counterattack, Austria held on. "If we had not won today, we could have forgotten about qualifying", said Herzog, whose side lost 2-1 in Belarus in their opener.