George Hirst won his seventh Scotland cap as his side were beaten 1-0 by Japan in a friendly at Hampden Park.

Hirst, 27, came on as a sub in the 63rd minute and came close to putting the Scots ahead on 79 when he did well to work the ball in from the left but hit the side-netting with his low strike. Junya Ito netted for the visitors six minutes from time.

Scotland are in action again on Tuesday when they face Cote d’Ivoire in another friendly in Liverpool.

Elsewhere, academy striker Sid Eldred was in a Northern Ireland U19s side which beat Azerbaijan 2-1 at a Euros qualification mini-tournament in Lithuania, the 18-year-old laying on what proved to be the winning goal for Brentford’s Coran Madden.

Young central defenders Corbin Mthunzi and Oliver Wilkinson were unused subs for Zimbabwe’s senior side, who beat Botswana 3-0, ex-Blues loanee Macauley Bonne among the scorers, and England’s U17s, who lost 3-1 to Israel.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters