Scotland Women head coach Shelley Kerr wants her side to be clinical

Published on: 23 October 2017

Shelley Kerr's side made a winning start to their qualification campaign by seeing off BelarusWomen's World Cup qualifying: Scotland v AlbaniaVenue: Paisley 2021 Stadium Date: Tuesday, 24 October Kick-off: 19:30 BSTCoverage: Watch on BBC Alba, updates on the BBC Sport website

They are creating the chances, now Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr wants her side to be more clinical in their Women's World Cup qualifier against Albania on Tuesday.

The Scots beat Belarus in Minsk in the first game of their France 2019 qualifying double header.

"We've got the campaign off to a good start with three points," said Kerr.

"Eighty percent of the game we were delighted with and it's a great starting point for us to build on."

Kerr led the Scots to a 3-0 friendly win over Hungary in her first match as manager and followed that with a 2-1 triumph over the Belarusians.

"We created lots of chances, that's been our mantra that we want to be more expansive in terms of our attacking play, so it's just actually getting that end product now," Kerr said.

"In football, other teams have problems creating chances but we're now making them, we're getting good support from various areas of the pitch - it's just a continuation of that and the small margins."

Scotland Women take on the Albanians at Paisley 2021 Stadium and are offering free entry as a thank you to fans for supporting the national side during their first European Championship finals.

The Scotland squad trained in Edinburgh before the World Cup qualifier

Kerr took over following the tournament in Netherlands and admits having won the opening game of a new campaign might help ease any tension.

"It's a new regime and sometimes that can add a bit of pressure as they don't know fully what to expect from a new manager when we don't get a lot of time to spend with the players," the 48-year-old said.

"[The win] certainly was important as it allows players to buy into the ideas and become even more receptive to what you want to achieve."

Opponents Albania are ranked lower than Belarus, sitting 73rd in the world, but Kerr says the two nations are not dissimilar as opponents.

She said: "Very similar type teams and [Albania] have climbed a couple of ranking places, are a developing nation and we know that if we're not switched on as a team they can create problems for us.

"We're going to come up against a team that will sit in and defend, and rightly so when a team is away from home, but we need to be patient in our build-up and try and create the opportunities.

"That will take creative movement, speedy play and tempo throughout the game.

"The players worked extremely hard in the Belarus game so we will probably make a couple of changes to the team, we're quite comfortable with that and so are the players because it is such a competitive environment.

"There's a trust within the squad and the talent we have at hand is second to none so we've no worries if we have to make a few changes."

Scotland squad

Goalkeepers: Lee Alexander (Glasgow City), Jenna Fife (Hibernian), Shannon Lynn (Vittsjo)

Defenders: Rachel Corsie (Seattle Reign), Chloe Arthur (Bristol City), Jennifer Beattie (Manchester City), Joelle Murray (Hibernian), Kirsty Smith (Hibernian), Sophie Howard (1899 Hoffenheim), Emma Mitchell (Arsenal), Frankie Brown (unattached)

Midfielders: Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea), Caroline Weir (Liverpool), Leanne Crichton (Glasgow City), Jo Love (Glasgow City), Hayley Lauder (Glasgow City), Lucy Graham (Hibernian)

Forwards: Lisa Evans (Arsenal), Jane Ross (Manchester City), Lana Clelland (Tavagnacco Femminile), Claire Emslie (Manchester City), Fiona Brown (Eskilstuna United), Christie Murray (Doncaster Rover Belles)

Source: bbc.com

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