Scotland pulled out all the stops to achieve a hard-earned 2-2 draw with England in the opening pool match at the indoor European Nations Championships 11 in Portugal yesterday, but then proceeded to undo all the good work with a disappointing 7-5 defeat at the hands of Croatia. The Scots must now beat France today to have any outside chance of finishing second in the group and making the promotion competition.

As normal the Scots were underdogs against England in the opening game, but Derek Forsyth`s charges dug deep and emerged the more enterprising side, and they can consider themselves unlucky not to take all three points.

However, it was not the best of starts, there was a lack of focus at the back which allowed Tom Carson to open for England in only two minutes. There were few clear-cut chances for the rest of the half, Scotland`s defence did well to survive two English penalty corners, while at the other end the ball was switched to Mike Ross at a set piece but the Menzieshill player`s effort was blocked.

Within a minute of the restart the Scots were level, the English defence were put under severe pressure and failed to clear the danger, the ball then broke kindly to Stephen Dick and the Olympian calmly slid the ball under the goalkeeper from close range. The Scots grew in confidence from the goal, they opened out and had the English chasing shadows for much of the half. The reward finally came with seven minutes left, youngster Jamie Wong`s brilliant spin wrong-footed his English markers and his pass across the circle was slammed low into the net by Dan Coultas.

The Scots created more chances to add to their tally through Callum Duke, Callum Milne and Pat Christie but often the wrong option was selecterd. It was a cruel blow when England`s John Kinder made it 2-2 with a powerful penalty corner strike.

But the Scots stuck to their task and could have stolen all three points with a clear chance to Christie only for the Inverleith youngster to send his shot agonisingly past the post.

"While it was a good for us, I feel we should have won the game but we didn`t take our chances, particularly in the second half when we dominated the play. So, I`m happy with the team`s performance but not so much with the result," said Forsyth.

The destiny of the second game against Croatia was decided in the first half, Scotland had most of the possession but it was the Croatians who had a monopoly of the lethal finishing technique. Again the Scots were on the backfoot with the loss of an early goal to Lucas Bachmann who went on to torment the Scots with a further three in the contest.

The Scots levelled when the Croatian defence failed to clear the danger and were punished when Coultas fired an unstoppable shot high into the net.

As the Scots wasted four penalty corners, in contrast the Croatians continued to find the net though Bachman again, Gregor Fjus and Mario Mucic for a crucial 4-1 interval lead.

Two early strikes in the second half through Bachman and Toni Premilovac effectively killed the game off as a contest with a 6-1 advantage. Menzieshill`s Michael Ross pulled one back following a switch from Dick at a penalty corner but any comeback was soon stifled by that man Bachman again to give Croatia a winning 7-2 lead.

Scotland finally found their scoring touch in the closing minutes, captain Gavin Byers was left with a simple scoring chance following a double set piece switch, Ross claimed his second from another penalty corner and in the final minute Dick created the opening for Christie to bring the score back to 7-5.

A disappointed Derek Forsyth said: "A disaster, you can`t afford not to score from your penalty corners and expect to win, we had four in the first half and failed to convert."

Grove Menzieshill, 19 times winner of the first division championship, are determined to regain their crown lost to Inverleith over the past two years by preparing for the restart of this season`s indoor campaign with a trip to Paris. Coach Billy McPherson is taking a strong line-up to play top French sides CA Montrouge and Amiens over four games. Missing will be Gavin Byers and Mike Ross who are in Portugal with the Scotland squad.