Scotland scoreline should have been more, says Carew

Norwegian international and Aston Villa striker John Carew has said that Norway were denied a legitimate goal plus a penalty and Scotland should have ended with nine men during his side’s 4-0 win.

While Scotland’s Gary Caldwell was sent off after pulling at the striker, who says that Caldwell’s brother, Steven, should also have received a second booking for fouling him in the box.

And the 29-year-old believes that one of his shots on goal crossed the line.

“We didn’t expect it to be that easy,” said the Aston Villa striker.

Norway’s victory lifts them off the foot of Europe’s Group Nine qualifying group, with Scotland slipping to third behind Macedonia on goal difference.

However, Carew believes that his side now have a good chance of finishing second and reaching the play-offs behind group winners Netherlands.

“I still think Scotland have a chance of finishing second, as do we,” he said.

“It was a good night for us,. We had players in good shape and we did well.”

Scotland manager George Burley thought that the sending off had been harsh and that his side did not enjoy the rub of the green on the night.

But Carew said: “The referee gave yellow cards to both teams and he treated them the same way and it was a sending-off because there was a lot of pulling.

“And it could have been a direct red card for his brother when he held me back and only got a yellow.

“It should also have been a penalty when he kicked my legs and the ball was well over the line, so it was actually five-zero.

“If it was 0-0 and he hadn’t allowed it then it would have been serious, but it was not a problem.”

It was a second win in a row – they beat Germany in a friendly – for Norway coach Egil Olsen after he agreed to return to the post in an interim capacity in January.

Olsen agreed with Burley that the red card had not only been decisive but was harsh on Caldwell.

“I wasn’t very happy about the sending off,” he said.

“It was probably not deserved and I feared that it would then be harder to score against them.

“But Scotland didn’t take any risks and, when we got the first goal, I sensed that there would be many more because I knew they would have to re-organise and that would give us space and we were good at exploiting 11 men against 10.”