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Mark Bresciano opened the scoring for Australia in the early minutes of the match with a spectacular longe-range volley that left the keeper no chance.

But the Socceroo's fortunes went downhill from that moment on.

New Scotland star Jordan Rhodes - making his first start for his country - clawed back a goal when he glanced a header beautifully past Mark Schwarzer to level the scores.

And just before half-time, new Aston Villa signing Brett Holman limped from the field with a nasty knock to the ankle after a crunching tackle.

In the second half, Holger Osieck made sweeping changes for the final 45 with Adam Federici taking the gloves, while Scott McDonald and Alex Brosque teamed up in attack.

At leftback Dave Carney was replaced by new start Jason Davidson who had also a debut to remember - but for all the wrong reasons.

After an assured start to his game, Davidson intercepted a harmless Scottish cross in front of goal - and nodded it past Federici to give Scotland the lead.

Ross McCormack made it 3-1 for Scotland after getting past Sasa Ognenovski to wrong-foot Federici and slot it home.

Ryan McGowan was also given his first cap with a late substitution and the Hearts player - who was also eligible for Scotland - was greeted with plenty of boos by the 11,110 fans at the home ground of Hearts' rivals, Hibs.

The loss extended Australia's winless run to four - the national team's worst streak since 2000.

The hosts looked more threatening in the opening exchanges, with Villa full-back Alan Hutton lively down the right.

It took 13 minutes for the first shot on target as Steven Naismith tested Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from 30 yards, but the Fulham shot-stopper was up to the task.

Despite Scotland's early dominance, it was the Socceroos who found the opener in the 18th minute after going close just moments earlier.

A Carney throw-in caught the Scotland defence off guard and Robbie Kruse capitalised, dribbling into the area from the left.

His first touch let him down and his cut-back was deflected out, leading to officials awarding Australia a corner.

Unaware a corner had been awarded, Holman continued to play on and he claimed to have scrambled in the opener as Danny Fox handled on the goal-line, although replays showed the ball had crossed.

But the visitors would open the scoring from the resulting corner once it was finally taken, and in some style thanks to Bresciano.

Bresciano beautifully dealt with the partial clearance from Luke Wilshere's corner, striking a looping first-time volley into the bottom corner, leaving Allan McGregor with no chance.

Scotland needed just 10 minutes to find an equaliser as Rhodes levelled with his first international goal.

The prolific Huddersfield Town striker beat Sasa Ognenovski to a Fox cross from the left, glancing his header past Schwarzer.

With Bresciano and Holman substituted at the break, Australia took time to settle in the second half, with Wilkshire going close in the 59th minute.

Kruse went past Hutton with neat skill down the left, cutting for Wilkshire, whose shot from inside the area was palmed away by substitute goalkeeper Matt Gilks.

Davidson, son of former Socceroos Alan, was rewarded with his first cap on the hour-mark, but it became a debut to forget just moments later.

The 21-year-old was in position to clear a cross from the impressive Fox, but he appeared to try and divert his header into the hands of Adam Federici, only to see him beat his own goalkeeper.

Scotland completed the victory with a quarter of an hour to play after poor defending from the Socceroos.

McCormack evaded the tackles of Ognenovski and Davidson before wrong-footing Federici and placing his shot into the bottom corner.

Ryan McGowan joined Davidson in earning his first cap as Scotland saw out a comfortable win with the Socceroos continuing to struggle in the second half.

Scotland 3 (Jordan Rhodes 28, Jason Davidson 63og, Ross McCormack 76)
Australia 1 (Mark Bresciano 18)
Crowd: 11,110 @ Easter Road

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