Wales 3 - 0 Scotland

Scots crushed by rampant Ramsey

Updated: November 14, 2009, 8:00 AM UK

Teenager Aaron Ramsey masterminded victory for Wales in the first international at Cardiff City Stadium to heap further pressure Scotland manager George Burley.

• Burley: Too early to talk about future

The 18-year-old Arsenal midfielder scored a brilliant solo goal and helped create the other two for David Edwards and Simon Church in a devastating first-half performance from the hosts.

Scotland boss Burley will face an inquest now with his team jeered off at the end and the Tartan Army demanding his exit.

Wales' kids have had a daunting few years, but they came of age in first half at Cardiff's new ground, with Ramsey's brilliance supplemented by fine displays from Joe Ledley and captain Ashley Williams.

The expected discontent from Cardiff fans at the appointment of Swansea's Williams - the 11th skipper in boss John Toshack's five-year reign - never came as Wales responded to a strong opening spell from the visitors with a dominant display.

Celtic's Daniel Fox made his Scotland debut at left-back and almost created a goal for James McFadden early on with a cross that the Birmingham forward caught first-time, but Wayne Hennessey saved with his legs.

Scotland had Wales pinned back and Kenny Miller came close with a low drive.

Slowly, though, Wales came into the game with Ramsey pulling the strings from midfield.

The Arsenal teenager combined with Sam Ricketts on the right as the hosts grabbed a 17th minute lead.

Ricketts played Ramsey in behind Fox, and the pulled-back cross was volleyed in from 12 yards by Edwards.

Ramsey was really into full flow and after 32 minutes his cross-field ball found Joe Ledley, with the Cardiff man striking his cross to the near post for Church to turn past David Marshall.

Three minutes later Wales had their third - a stunning solo goal from Ramsey.

He went past Stephen McManus and Darren Fletcher in a superb run from midfield before driving a low effort beyond Marshall.

The Cardiff goalkeeper then kept out a close-range drive from Ledley as Wales continued to press forward.

By the interval, the Scots were in shock. Their fans booed when Burley's picture appeared on the giant television screens and the team were jeered off.

Wales brought on Sam Vokes and Robert Earnshaw for Church and Ched Evans, and within a minute Marshall was lucky not to be dismissed when he rushed out of his box and handled a Vokes chip.

Swiss referee Cyril Zimmermann decided the challenge was only worthy of a yellow card.

Scotland sent on Steven Fletcher for Miller and Lee Wallace for Fox, while Wales took off Ramsey to give Joe Allen a run in midfield.

Scotland must have been pleased to see the back of Ramsey, who was clearly being rested with a vital midweek under-21 game in Bosnia in mind.

Wales then felt able to give Danny Gabbidon a run-out in defence in place of Lewin Nyatanga, as the West Ham defender returned from two months out with a calf injury.

The rotation of substitutes continued with the Scots replacing Steven Naismith, McFadden, Graham Dorrans and Don Cowie with Ross McCormack, Kevin Kyle, Barry Robson and Derek Riordan but Burley's side only marginally improved.

Hennessey had not been really tested, although he did have to turn over a McCormack chip and block a Riordan drive in the closing 10 minutes.

Wales also rang the changes but did not relinquish control of the contest as Scotland were left to contemplate an embarrassing loss.

Burley: Too early to talk about future

Wales manager John Toshack was delighted with his young side but expressed sympathy for his opposite number.

"I thought the Scots had the better of the early exchanges,'' Toshack said. "He (Burley) will have felt hard done by coming in 3-0 down and I can sympathise with him on that score. Over the 90 minutes we shaded it but maybe 3-0 was a little bit of an exaggeration.

"I thought the Scots let us off the hook early on. They had a few decent chances and the finishing didn't match the approach work. Then we got good goals at the right time which gave a very young side a boost in confidence.''

Toshack revealed the impressive Ramsey had been struggling with injury and also praised goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey. "Aaron is one of the most promising youngsters we have and it's not bad winning the man of the match when you only play for 55 minutes. He has been a bit uncomfortable with a back injury over the last few days and we didn't want to push him too much. But I thought our goalkeeper was outstanding as well. He made important saves at the right time which kept us in the game.''

Burley later claimed it was too early to say whether the defeat placed a question mark over his future. "It's too early to assess it,'' he told BBC Radio Scotland. "We`re playing different players to score goals. Unfortunately I can't score for them.

"It was a very attacking team and we still didn`t score. It`s my job and we`re looking to keep pushing on.''

But Burley admitted he was at a loss to account for the poor performance. "I spoke to the players and I can`t explain it,'' Burley said. "I`m looking for them as a team to work hard and stick together. As a team we were too easy to beat. Overall it was a shocking performance.''