Miller earns Scots a draw

Kenny Miller struck in the first half to earn Scotland a 1-1 draw against Croatia at Hampden to give new manager George Burley an encouraging start to his tenure.

The country who ended England's Euro 2008 hopes looked set to claim another British scalp when Portsmouth's Nico Kranjcar claimed the opener early on before Miller ensured an encouraging start to Burley's tenure.

A constant downpour all day did little to help boost the crowd of just over 28,000 but it was an early opener from Croatia, rather than the weather, which threatened to put a dampener on the match.

Luka Modric supplied the pass after 10 minutes and Craig Gordon appeared to be caught cold in the Scotland goal as Kranjcar rifled high into the middle of the net from 25 yards.

To their credit, Scotland refused to crumble. Miller came off worse in a tussle with Josip Simunic and nodded over from Shaun Maloney's resultant free-kick, before restoring parity with half an hour gone.

The Derby striker raced onto a long ball down the left flank from debutant Steven Fletcher before despatching an angled drive into the back of the net.

Kranjcar had another go with a long-range shot in an attempt to restore Croatia's advantage before the interval but, this time, his efforts ended in failure with Gordon up to the task and smothering with ease.

Scott Brown had the first real chance after the restart, his low shot whistling narrowly past the post, before a Miller header was cleared off the line by Danijel Pranjic.

At the other end, Kranjcar's shot was flicked on by Ivica Olic but Sunderland goalkeeper Gordon stood tall to block before Gary Caldwell hooked to safety and Gordon came to the rescue again with a brilliant save at the near post to deny substitute Igor Budan.

Scotland almost snatched it when Kris Boyd was denied by an excellent save from goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, but the game ended all square.