Scotland fans blast ‘awful’ coverage of Poland clash as broadcast ends abruptly

SCOTLAND fans were saved from a TV blackout by ITV for the national team’s Nations League double-header this week.

But if their coverage of tonight’s clash against Poland is anything to go by (not to mention the result), the Tartan Army might turn off the telly on Sunday when Steve Clarke‘s men travel to Lisbon to face Portugal.

3

Scotland lost 3-2 to the Poles at Hampden, having recovered from two goals down only for a ludicrous last-gasp lunge from Grant Hanley to end with a penalty converted by Nicola Zalewski.

Sebastian Szymanski opened the scoring after eight minutes and then just before half-time, after the hosts had dominated much of the play, Anthony Ralston gave away a clumsy foul inside the box and superstar Robert Lewandowski duly punished the Scots from the spot.

Billy Gilmour scored his first competitive goal almost immediately after the restart and after the introduction of Ben Doak and Ryan Gauld for their Scotland debut, the men in dark blue began upped the ante and Scott McTominay tucked home an equaliser in the 76th minute.

But in the sixth of eight additional minutes of stoppage time, Hanley dived in on Zalewski when he had absolutely no need to do so, with the sub heading away from goal, tripping him up and leading to the game-winning penalty.

Not long after that incident came the final whistle and fans hoping for a proper analytical breakdown of the game were also left wanting, as ITV4 wrapped up their broadcast within minutes of full-time.

ITV only secured the rights to the match and the following game with Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Portugal yesterday, after a brief battle for the coverage with the BBC.

3

But they deployed a rather threadbare approach to their coverage, with the commentary team of Sam Matterface and Neil McCann not in vision and NO studio guests to preview or review the game.

The lack of a visible presence didn’t go unnoticed by supporters watching the game on screens at home.

“I know it was put together last minute but this coverage of the Scotland game is awful,” said one fan.

Another punter said: “The Scotland game coverage on ITV4 is f****** crap.”

While this fan said sarcastically: “I see that ITV pulled out all the stops with their coverage of the Scotland game tonight.”

Another viewer reckoned ITV simply shouldn’t have bothered purchasing the rights, saying: “Anyway, thanks a lot to ITV4 for buying the rights to that, we could have all been spared otherwise.”

Commentator Matterface was also criticised by one fan who said: “The English commentator on ITV4 for the Scotland game is embarrassing, he’s so anti Scottish it’s unreal.”

Our New YouTube Channel

Subscribe to our new Scottish Sun Sport YouTube channel for all the latest football news, views and amazing moments.

We’ve got every major development covered from Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and the rest of the Scottish Premiership.

Plus we have TWO brilliant new podcasts to watch every week…

MONDAY

Go Ballistic with Roger Hannah and special guest Kris Boyd will dissect all the weekend action and deliver their no-holds-barred reaction.

WEDNESDAY

Robert Grieve and Bill Leckie chew over the tastiest topics in Scottish football and offer their unique takes in their Coffee Club.

FRIDAY

Go Ballistic is back with Roger Hannah and top tipster Jim Delahunt looking ahead to the weekend games and analysing the biggest talking points.

Subscribe now and don’t miss a thing.

Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page