JAN Bednarek had a night to forget as Poland crashed to a 3-2 defeat at home to a Portugal side that did not include his Saints teammate Cedric Soares in the Uefa Nations League.

Defender Bednarek played the full 90 minutes alongside AS Monaco’s Kamil Blik, who scored an own goal just before half-time to put Portugal 2-1 up after Poland took an early lead.

Msnchester City’s Bernardo Silva made it 3-1 early in the second half for a Portugal side that included Joao Cancelo at the expense of Soares.

Bednarek missed the target with a 75th-minute header before Poland pulled a goal back two minutes later.

Portugal held on to make it two wins out of two in group A3.

Meanwhile, Saints midfielder Stuart Armstrong started on the bench and stayed there as Scotland lost 2-1 to Israel in Haifa.

Alex McLeish named an unchanged Scotland side for the Nations League clash at the Sammy Ofer Stadium, where a Kieran Tierney own goal ensured ten-man Scotland lost to a side ranked 94th in the world.

Saints goalkeeper Angus Gunn was also left on the bench as England Under-21s routed Andorra 7-0 in Chesterfield to book their place at Euro 2019.

Saints have a trio of players involved with their international side on Friday.

Steven Davis has travelled to Austria with the Northern Ireland squad to captain them in their UEFA Nations League fixture in the Ernst Happel Stadion.

Defender Maya Yoshida made the long-haul trip back to his native Japan for their Kirin Challenge Cup tie against Panama.

Mario Lemina is also in action as Gabon face South Sudan in an African Nations Cup qualifier.