Jordan Rhodes: Bagged a double for Scotland's youngsters as they drew with Austria

Jordan Rhodes continued his impressive goalscoring form for Scotland Under 21s but his double was not enough to earn victory over Austria in Monday's European Championship qualifier.

The Huddersfield striker - who netted a hat-trick in a 5-1 win in Luxembourg on Thursday - twice levelled to cancel out goals from Andreas Weimann and Deni Alar but the Scots had to settle for a share of the points.

Despite the emphatic win on the road, Billy Stark's side have now drawn both their home games following a goalless stalemate against Bulgaria in last month's opener.

The young Scots had an early opportunity to pile the pressure on their visitors in Paisley when Rhodes was tripped just outside the box by Richard Windbichler.

Scott Allan stepped up for the resultant free-kick and forced an impressive save from goalkeeper Heinz Lindner with a curling low effort.

The Dundee United midfielder then picked up the first booking of the game for diving after going to ground under pressure from Florian Hart.

Push forward

The home side continued to push forward in search of the opener and Rhodes rifled a decent chance over, before seeing another effort flash across the face of goal and past the post.

The breakthrough came after 15 minutes but, despite Scotland's early pressure, it was the Austrians who took the lead.

The defence stood off as Weimann unleashed from 25 yards and goalkeeper Grant Adam appeared to be caught by surprise and failed to react as the swerving shot from distance nestled in the back of the net.

Rhodes could have had a penalty when he took a tumble in the box following a challenge from Christopher Dibon but the claim was waved away by the Croatian referee.

Austria had a decent chance to double their advantage when Weimann picked out Alar for the header but the effort was blocked on the line by Ryan Jack.

Scotland hauled themselves back onto level terms when Gregg Wylde raced past Hart down the left flank before finding Rhodes at the back post to nod past Lindner with 37 minutes gone.

Restored

But Austria restored their lead three minutes before half-time when Windbichler supplied the cross for Alar and, on this occasion, his header did find the back of the net.

The Scots made a change at the interval when Allan was withdrawn for the introduction of Alex MacDonald, who was on the scoresheet in Luxembourg, before Peter Pawlett was thrown into the action for Johnny Russell after 62 minutes.

The home side levelled the scores for the second time in the game just two minutes later. Pawlett's header in front of goal was brilliantly saved by the goalkeeper but Rhodes reacted quickly to nod home the rebound.

The Scots then claimed that Windbichler handled a Jack cross in the box but, again, the referee declined to point to the penalty spot.

A cross from Wylde clipped the crossbar, before the ball dropped for Pawlett and he lashed past the upright as Stark's men pushed for the winner.

However, Scotland had to settle for a point, albeit the result keeps them above Austria in second place in Group 10 for now.