Scotland 1-4 Sweden

"We had a mad 10 minutes, when we lost a couple of goals, but I think there were a lot of good moments when we played some creative stuff," he said.

"Even if we had our strongest team out tonight, I still think we would have had difficulty out there.

"Unfortunately, the game is all about results and we will pay the price in terms of criticism."

Burns praised the players for the efforts after a build-up that included many changes to the squad due to injuries.

"Considering our hotel has been like an immigration office, with players coming and going, we did a lot of positive things," he said.

I thought we looked good and positive, but the top teams are clinical Scotland midfielder Jackie McNamara

"They gave everything they have got. There were some good performances."

Burns was pleased with Barry Nicholson and Kevin McNaughton, who returned to the international scene after being discarded by Vogts.

"Barry Nicholson did exceptionally well and so did Kevin McNaughton and Ian Murray in the first half," he said.

"McNamara, Quashie and Pearson played well, so there were a lot of good, free-flowing things.

"We will be criticised for the result because that is what football is all about.

"But, considering these guys have just come together, they showed a lot of good qualities against one of the top 10 nations in the world."

Stand-in captain Jackie McNamara insisted that the 4-1 scoreline flattered Sweden.

"I thought we looked good and positive, but the top teams are clinical and that's the difference," he said.

"They make you pay for your mistakes and make their chances count.

"But we had a lot of young players coming in and I think we will benefit from that in the years to come and, even if we don't qualify for the present World Cup, it will be better in the future."

Sweden coach Lars Lagerback was delighted how his side, which had been without rested stars Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg, had performed.

"It was a really good friendly for us, but not only because of the result," he said.

"The Scottish team played with a good tempo, so we had to work very hard. We had a really good test.

"We created some really good chances and scored some good goals."