Dave Bell intended on using the game - and Friday's second meeting with the same opposition - to work closer with his squad ahead of their upcoming UEFA European Championship qualifiers in Turkey.

Two early goals from Scotland's Brogan Hay added to Kaela McGregor's opener to dent Ireland's plans, but Bell was encouraged by how his players improved as the game wore on.

"A lot of our play was quite good. We probably had a bigger percentage of play in the first half and still went 3-0 down due to our mistakes, which was a little disappointing," said Bell.

"In the second half, we improved a lot and created a few good chances. I was pleased with how we responded in the second half. It's something that we all have to work together with. There were some pluses for us to take from this game though.

"We have to make sure that we are better defensively going into the second game on Friday and that is an opportunity for girls to show what they can do and try to book a place in the squad for when we go to Turkey."

Bell will now switch his attention to preparing the team to face the same opposition on Friday afternoon as he knows that the more time that he gets with the players is crucial to building towards their qualification campaign.

Backed by a shrewd backroom staff, Bell will leave no stone unturned in an effort to rectify the mistakes from this game and ensure that they register a positive performance in their second friendly outing.

Republic of Ireland: Lenehan; Green, Farrelly (Reddy 73), Kavanagh (Kiely 70), O'Callaghan (Connolly 70), Kiernan (Homan 49), Ruddy, Noonan, Payne (Reybet-Degat 62), Mannix (O'Gorman 49), Doyle (Burke 73).

Scotland: Cumings; McAlpine (Napier 53), Rice (Doran-barr 58), Cunningham (Fraser 75), Cameron, Kerr, Dalgliesh, McGregor, Gordon (Farquhar 64), McDonald (Notley 75), Hay (Gollan 65).

FIXTURES

Scotland WU17 3-0 Republic of Ireland WU17, September 2

Scotland WU17 v Republic of Ireland WU17, September 4, KO 12:30pm, Ainslie Park, Edinburgh