IT may not have been a goalkeeping display quite as calamitous as that of Loris Karius in the Champions League final at the weekend, but it was every bit as costly.

Jordan Archer had a game to forget, just as his hapless Liverpool counterpart Karius had in Kiev against Real Madrid on Saturday night, as he made his Scotland debut against Peru here in Lima in the early hours of this morning.

The Millwall keeper was at fault as the home team were awarded a penalty, which they duly converted to take the lead, in the first-half and then allowed a shot he should have saved easily to slip over his line early in the second.

Alex McLeish’s side were always going to have a hard time competing in this end-of-season friendly against Ricardo Gareca’s team. Their build-up have been hit by a raft of call-offs while their rivals were at full-strength as they cranked up their preparations for the Russia 2018 finals. They were also playing over 6,000 miles away from home in front of a sell-out crowd.

But the manner in which they slumped to the 2-0 defeat will still have rankled. They performed well considering the circumstances and gave a decent account of themselves without ever really looking like scoring. They were complicit in their own downfall. It was two needless mistakes which cost them dear.

Scotland’s first game on South American soil in 40 years was never going to be quite as traumatic as their last journey to the continent. It is unlikely that anything will be quite as excruciating as their ill-fated appearance at the World Cup finals in Argentina back in 1978 again.

Nevertheless, McLeish’s young and inexperienced charges were still given a stark and invaluable lesson in the standards that are required to succeed in international football at the highest level. With no fewer than seven players making their debuts at this level it is to be hoped they will benefit from the experience and go on and become better players in future as a result.

It was La Blanquirroja who administered the 3-1 defeat in Cordoba four decades ago which quickly made members of the Tartan Army realise that Ally MacLeod’s men may not return home with the trophy after all.

Nobody expected Scotland to even record a draw here last night given all of the regulars who were excused from travelling and the number of players who pulled out of the original 24-man squad injured.

McLeish named four debutants in his starting line-up – Archer, midfielder Dylan McGeouch of Hibernian right back Stephen O’Donnell of Kilamarnock and left back Lewis Stevenson of Hibernian.

Elsewhere, captain Charlie Mulgrew of Blackburn Rovers partnered Scott McKenna of Aberdeen in the centre of defence with John McGinn of Hibernian, Kenny McLean of Norwich City, Scott McTominay of Manchester United, Jamie Murphy of Rangers ahead of them in midfield

In total, they had just 59 caps between them. Mulgrew had, with 34 appearances, turned out more times for his country than the rest of this team mates combined. It was to prove to be, as McLeish had predicted beforehand, a sharp learning curve.

Their hosts may have waited 36 long years to reach the World Cup finals. But they are currently ranked 11th in the FIFA world rankings and will travel to Russia with high hopes of progressing from a group that includes Australia, Denmark and France and reaching the knockout stages.

Paolo Guerrero, the Flamengo striker who is their record scorer with 32 goals to his name, has been ruled out of the finals after being hit with a 14 month ban for cocaine use, but they are certainly not short of talented players without him. Look out for Christian Cueva, Jefferson Fanfan and Edison Flores in the coming weeks. They may not challenge, but they will be worth watching.

McLeish went with a 4-5-1 formation with McGeouch operating as a holding midfielder just in front of the backline and it worked well. They played with great organisation and admirable composure and at times produced some fine passages of play.

Matt Phillips, who played as a lone striker once again, had a difficult task up front by himself, but the West Brom man worked tirelessly.

The visitors, though, failed to threaten their hosts’ goal. Keeper Jose Carvallo claimed a McLean corner that floated into his six yard box and McKenna headed a Stevenson free-kick onto the roof of the net.

Phillips also just failed to get on the end of a defence-splitting diagonal ball into the opposition box from McTominay. But at no stage did they actually manage a shot directly at goal.

The opening Peru goal came out of nowhere against the run of play. Archer failed to clear a long ball to the edge of his area after a mix up with Mulgrew and got caught off his line. Jefferson Fanfan tried to lob him and McKenna handled.

Mexican referee Pablo Hernandez had no hesitation pointing to the spot. After a lengthy delay Cueva stepped up to take it. Archer guessed correctly that the Sao Paulo mid-fielder would put it to his bottom right corner, but he was unable to get a hand to it. The celebrations

Scotland, though, could be encouraged by how they had performed as they went in at half-time despite trailing by a goal, a couple of the new boys especially.

Stevenson had his hands full shackling Luis Advincula, but he coped well and got forward down his flank whenever play allowed. McGeouch, wearing a mask once again to protect his fractured cheekbone, was heavily involved in breaking down play and initiating attacks.

McGinn, McTominay and Murphy all showed flashes of what they are capable of. Archer will not relish seeing the opening goal again. But he saved a free-kick from Cueva early on and then denied Farfan on the half hour mark.

Scotland also dealt with the excessively physical approach of their. McLean was scythed down by Yoshimar Yotan and McTomina got taken out off the ball by Cueva in the first half. It is often the South American way. But they gave as good as they got.

Unfortunately, for them, the second-half got off to the worst possible start when Archer fumbled a shot from Farfan into his own net after Yotun had cut it back to his compatriot.

Oliver McBurnie came on for Murphy and Callum Paterson replaced McGinn after they fell 2-0 behind. Then McLeish handed Lewis Morgan, the Celtic player who won Championship Player of the Year after helping St Mirren to win promotion to the Premiership, his first cap. He immediately made a surging upfield run, unleashed Paterson down the right and watched as McBurnie just failed to convert a penetrating ball in front of goal.

Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie made his long-awaited international debut when he came on came on for McGeouch. He produced a crucial block as Fanfan bore down on his goal shortly after taking to the field.