Scotland Women captain Rachel Corsie feels they are capable of competing with the best teams in Europe despite the 4-0 Nations League loss to Netherlands.
First-half goals from Danielle van de Donk and Esmee Brugts had the hosts ahead, with Lineth Beerensteyn adding a brace in the second period.
The Scots were under pressure for large periods of the game and struggled to offer much in response to the in-form Dutch.
Corsie, who hails from Aberdeen, believes Scotland fell short in Nijmegen last night and should have made it more difficult for their opponents.
“We knew we were coming to face a good side but I felt we had to disrupt the momentum a little more than we did,” said Corsie.
“You expect that pressure in possession and it can be hard to get a rhythm but we’re normally at it defensively. I felt we gave up too much space and the early goal is always tough to come back from.
“We just felt short in too many areas today and that’s just the honesty of what happened. We now have the opportunity to rectify that because we’re going to go again on Tuesday.”
Scotland will be reacquainted with the Dutch on Tuesday night, for the second game of this double-header at Hampden Park. Pedro Martinez Losa’s side sit bottom of a group which also includes England and Belgium, with Corsie adding that they have more to offer than they showed yesterday.
“When you look at the group, England and the Netherlands have been two of the best sides in Europe for the last five or six years,” she said.
“You have to respect the opponent and sometimes these results happen. I think we have it in us to compete much better than we showed.
“It’s disappointing but we have to pick ourselves up. Tuesday needs to be a better performance from everybody.”
A caveat on Scotland’s display was the fact they were missing their first-choice midfield of Sam Kerr, Caroline Weir and Erin Cuthbert, however the skipper was not prepared to offer any excuses.
“We have quality there,” added Corsie. “We gave them too many options when they had the ball and you have to make it more difficult. You can’t allow them to switch play so easily.
“They have really good players and they don’t need that much space anyway.
“We know we have a second opportunity and that’s the good thing in football, there’s another game round the corner. We at least want to make sure we put it right with our performance on Tuesday that can hopefully get more out of the game.”
Lyon midfielder van de Donk escaped her marker to give the home side an 11th-minute lead, with Brugts capitalising on Sophie Howard’s poor clearance to finish the second.
"It's criminal defending from Scotland."
🇳🇱 🏴 Scotland fall three behind in Nijmegen as Netherlands take full advantage of a defensive lapse.
📺 Follow the game on BBC Scotland#BBCFootball #SWNT #NEDSCO pic.twitter.com/eRwSk36a0f
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) October 27, 2023
Beerensteyn’s first came from a simple long ball over the Scotland defence, before she peeled off Corsie to head in her second and Netherlands’ fourth.
“You have to sit in the discomfort of watching it back and fixing the little things,” added Corsie. “The goals are something I want to see back and how we can defend better.
“For all their good play, the goals are ones we’ll look back on and be really disappointed by.
“We’re a good group – we look after each other whether we win or we lose and we’ve done that many times.”
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