’RAINE DANCE
Gordon shines as Scots seal top spot 0 0
(right)
CLEAN SHEET: Scotland keeper Craig Gordon at fulltime; making a crucial save
CRAIG GORDON was the hero as Scotland backed up their win over Ireland with another positive result last night.
The appalling luck of their buildup to this showdown with Ukraine, where injury and illness wreaked havoc on the team, finally turned in a nervy contest as they somehow survived an onslaught in Krakow.
Gordon (39) produced some fine saves to snatch a draw not so much unlikely as seemingly impossible for much of the contest.
It was his 30th Scotland clean sheet and it means they top Group B1 ahead of the Ukrainians, which not only gives them a place in Pot B of Euro 2024 qualification, but guarantees a play-off place for the competition.
Scotland, who beat the Boys in Green 2-1 at Hampden Park on Saturday, had to endure a torrid first half in a ferocious atmosphere.
Boss Steve Clarke had to seriously juggle his squad with virtually a whole side missing through illness or injury, including captain Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay.
And a new-look, inexperienced line-up struggled to contain their opponents.
Massive
Ukraine had three massive chances in the opening half.
Former West Ham forward Andriy Yarmolenko offered the biggest letoff with a glaring eighth-minute miss as he was gifted a volley from just eight yards out but blazed over with the goal at his mercy.
Soon after Artem Dovbyk was sent racing through on goal by Yarmolenko but didn’t get enough power on his shot allowing Gordon to save well to his right, while Taras Stepanenko sent a free header over the bar from on the sixyard line.
Not that it was all one way, with Che Adams denied early on and Ryan Jack scooping a leftfoot shot from a corner over the bar.
Deny
VAR also intervened to deny a penalty award after Ryan Fraser tried a speculative shot, confirming the ball had come off Stepanenko’s face, not his hand.
Gordon was forced into another brilliant save as he brilliantly denied Mykhaylo Mudryk, and then Danylo Ignatenko soon after, while Illya Zabarnyi blazed over from close range.
Somehow Scotland survived a frantic finale.
And no matter the performance, which for all the world looked what it was — a somewhat unfamiliar bunch superbly fighting an unlikely rearguard action together — they gained a massive Euro boost.