Wales 4 Scotland 0
The fleet-footed young striker grabbed a hat-trick against a hapless Scotland defence, with Gareth Taylor's first international goal rounding off a good night's work for the hosts.
The Millennium Stadium crowd was lifted off its feet after just 42 seconds when Gary Speed's long pass split the Scotland defence asunder. Cardiff speedster Earnshaw latched on to the ball, held off the challenge of Gary Naysmith and steered his shot beyond Rab Douglas.
Earnshaw's pace was causing the visiting defence all manner of problems and he had a shot deflected narrowly wide and then headed over after Ryan Giggs crossed from the right flank.
Scotland offered a sporadic threat with Colin Cameron shooting over and Robert Page producing two smart blocks. The second of those from Kenny Miller's shot resulted in a corner which the Wolves striker headed over at the near post.
Darren Fletcher shot straight at Mark Crossley after taking advantage of slack defending while Douglas' excellent save from Earnshaw was academic after the Welsh flyer was ruled to be marginally offside.
Fletcher's free kick then made Crossley fumble the ball but Wales immediately switched the play down field to nick their second goal of the friendly.
Paul Parry, who was making his international debut after replacing Simon Davies moments earlier, carried possession forward before slipping a pass in to the feet of Giggs. The Manchester United ace whipped in a magnificent cross which glanced off the head of Paul Ritchie and then Earnshaw before finally hitting Naysmith's back and creeping in to the corner of the net, with the goal accredited to the Welshman.
Giggs himself should have scored five minutes before being replaced at the break but he guided his header past the upright from John Oster's cross.
Despite changes from both teams at the interval, Scotland still had no answer to the lightning pace of Earnshaw, who completed his hat-trick on 58 minutes. Robbie Savage's excellent pass sent the Cardiff hit-man free down the left channel and he cut inside the penalty area to unleash a rasping shot past Douglas.
Scotland offered no riposte and were grateful to the referee for not falling further behind on 65 minutes. Substitute Taylor, who was seeking his first international goal, nodded in Gary Speed's knockdown but the Wales captain was adjudged to have climbed on Christian Dailly.
Nottingham Forest forward Taylor, though, did break his Wales duck on 78 minutes after collecting a perceptive pass from the impressive Parry and drilling a low shot under Douglas to round off a commanding display from the hosts.
| | Wales | Scotland |
| Possession % | 51% | 49% |
| Goals | 4 | 0 |
| Shots on target | 4 | 7 |
| Shots off target | 5 | 8 |
| Blocked shots | 3 | 2 |
| Corners | 1 | 4 |
| Fouls | 17 | 17 |
| Offsides | 5 | 3 |
| Yellow cards | 0 | 0 |
| Red cards | 0 | 0 |
 | ||
