Rachel McLauchlan believes Scotland Women proved they can compete with the top teams in their Uefa Nations League defeat to England.
In their Nations League opener at the Stadium of Light, Scotland were beaten 2-1 by the reigning European champions and last month’s World Cup finalists.
Lucy Bronze and Lauren Hemp put England 2-0 up by the 45th minute, but Scotland found themselves back in the game when Kirsty Hanson pulled a goal back with the last kick of the first-half.
Scotland battled to try to pull level, with a number of chances in the second half – including a Kirsty Hanson effort which hit the crossbar, but did not find an equaliser.
McLauchlan, who hails from Avoch on the Black Isle, believes an encouraging display against the Lionesses was a reflection of the recent strides Scotland have made.
The defender said: “We showed that we can compete with teams like that and we have to take confidence from that for the games coming up.
“That’s why we’re disappointed after that performance: where we gave it everything and created chances, but unfortunately they just didn’t go into the net.”
McLauchlan added: “Even before the game we were all really looking forward to playing England and putting ourselves up to the test, and now that game is over we’ve shown we can compete with that.
“So, it’s an exciting time and I think you can see the progression within the team. We want to just keep pushing forward and that’s exactly what we will be looking to do.”
Scotland were well-supported by a travelling Tartan Army in Sunderland and McLauchlan hopes the team can give the fans something to celebrate when they host Belgium at Hampden on Tuesday.
Belgium started their Nations League campaign with an impressive 2-1 win over the Netherlands on Friday night.
McLauchlan said: “We got a crowd (in Sunderland) and you could certainly hear them.
“It helped us so much on the pitch. You had a full crowd of English fans, but you could still hear the Scottish ones and that was really good.
“Hopefully, we can get them at Hampden on Tuesday as well to push us on and we will put everything into our performance for that one as well.”
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