Miller's boost for Burley as Scotland draw with Croatia

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The conquerors of England had looked like running away with the game at times, but some tenacious defending from the home side kept the score level.

Miller time: Simunic's lunge cannot stop Kenny Miller from levelling for Scotland

Seven withdrawals from the Scotland squad had done little to encourage a half-empty Hampden on a wet night and neither did the ease with which Croatia opened up.

The visitors, indeed, took the lead in the 10th minute with their first effort on goal.

Luka Modric slipped the ball to Nico Kranjcar 25 yards from goal and the Portsmouth man was allowed to turn far too easily before driving past Craig Gordon.

Burley stood bemused as his side tried to up the tempo but the Croats matched the home side's enthusiasm with some quality passing which at times split the Scotland defence wide open.

But in the 30th minute, out of the blue, Scotland equalised when Gary Naysmith's long pass from the back evaded defender Robert Kovac to send Miller through on goal.

The Derby striker took the ball to the side of the back-tracking Josip Simunic before firing his angled shot from 12 yards high past Stipe Pletikosa, with the aid of a deflection off Simunic.

After the break, the Scots seemed more confident as Shaun Maloney's corner from the right was met by the leaping Miller at the near post, but his header was cleared off the line by Danijel Pranjic.

Croatia slowly took hold of the game again and Gary Caldwell did brilliantly to hook the ball away from Ivica Olic while facing his own goal after Gordon had spilled a decent strike from Kranjcar.