A depleted Scotland Women were comfortably beaten 4-0 by Netherlands in their Uefa Nations League tie.
First-half goals from Danielle van de Donk and Esmee Brugts put the hosts two clear in Nijmegen before Lineth Beerensteyn added a brace in the second period.
It was a tough night for the Scots, who struggled to cope with an impressive Netherlands side in fine fettle.
To fill the void of the injured triumvirate of Sam Kerr, Erin Cuthbert and Caroline Weir, Pedro Martinez Losa opted for Kirsty Maclean and Amy Rodgers alongside Stonehaven’s Christy Grimshaw in midfield. Lee Gibson got the nod in goal with Sandy MacIver, who recently switched international allegiances from England, on the bench.
The Dutch, who were beaten quarter-finalists at the summer’s World Cup, got off to the perfect start with an 11th-minute lead.
Kerstin Casparij darted into the left channel, finding space behind the Scotland defence before cutting the ball back to the near post. Lyon midfielder van de Donk escaped the attentions of Sophie Howard to jab the ball home.
Playing against a side ranked seventh in the world was always like to provide Scotland with a stern examination and any fortune received would be gratefully accepted. It nearly came their way in the 17th minute when Kirsty Hanson’s clipped pass through was spilled by goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar, at the feet of Claire Emslie.
The ball bounced up off the Scotland winger and agonisingly out of her reach, as the Dutch got bodies back to clear.
Hanson, who delivered a livewire performance in the narrow defeat to England last month, forced a more intentional save out of van Domselaar, with a rasping left-foot drive which needed tipping over.
But any foothold Scotland sought to regain in the game was soon extinguished when Brugts put the hosts 2-0 ahead.
Jill Roord clipped the ball into the box, with Howard’s clearance only falling as far as the Barcelona forward who was able to sweep home.
The Dutch showed little sign of relenting and a smart stop from Gibson was required to keep out Sherida Spitse’s effort, as Scotland started to toil.
They got to half-time with just the two-goal deficit but it soon got worse seven minutes into the second half, in frustratingly simple fashion.
Spitse’s long diagonal from the back caught out the Scotland backline, which had allowed Beerensteyn freedom to run in behind and with a deft finish over Gibson, she buried the visitors’ hopes on the night.
There was little in the way of a retort from Scotland, with a snap-shot from Rachel McLauchlan comfortably gathered and a header from Howard drifting harmlessly wide.
Three became four with 20 minutes to go, with Damaris Egurrola standing a ball up to the back post where Beerensteyn had peeled off her marker to head home.
To cap off a positive night for the Dutch fans, Vivianne Miedema made her long-awaited return to international football as a late substitute, with the Arsenal striker only making her return from an ACL injury at club level in the last week.
Beerensteyn came close to a hat-trick in stoppage-time, with Gibson producing a sprawling save to prevent a fifth goal.
Martinez Losa’s side will have to get familiar with the Netherlands, with the second part of this double-header coming at Hampden Park on Tuesday night.
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