SPECIAL CURPHEW
Late show sees Scots seal first shootout success
WHERE was Professor Leitch and his 10 o’clock curfew when Scotland really needed him?
If only the clinical director had ordered closing time at Hampden last night he would have spared us all from the stress and anxiety of watching Steve Clarke’s men put us all through the wringer again.
Then again, after a week of unbearable tension and Covid related chaos, perhaps we were meant to end it this way.
Peeking through the gaps in face masks as finally Lady Luck smiled on Clarke and his players and allowed them to keep their nerve when all around were losing theirs.
The first penalty shootout win in Scotland’s history, secured against the backdrop of an empty, echoing national stadium. Never has the place felt so empty. Never has it been so full of Scottish joy.
At the end of a dire 120 minutes David Marshall started the heroics by hurling himself to his right to save from Israeli goal machine Eran Zahavi after John McGinn had put Scotland in front.
Callum McGregor, Scott McTominay and Lawrence Shankland then did the business from 12 yards before Kenny McLean completed the job to send Scotland through to the play-off final for next summer’s Euro finals against Serbia in Belgrade next month.
In truth, this pair could have been playing until next summer without troubling the back of a net so it ended the only way it could – with a bunch of free hits from 12 yards.
Last time out Clarke’s thinking was easy enough to figure out. If it meant ramming a square peg in a round hole then it was worth it to fit all his most talented players into the same team while solving the Kieran Tierney-Andy Robertson conundrum into the bargain.
In theory it made sense. But to sticking to three at the back even after Tierney had been sent into self isolation? Replacing the £ 25million Arsenal man with Motherwell’s Declan Gallagher? Pairing Lyndon Dykes with Oli McBurnie in attack?
Nope, this time, not so much. This looked high-risk stuff even before a ball had been kicked.
And then it started. And it looked even worse.
For the first five minutes Scotland were sluggish and second best – as if the players were still unsure about what was being asked of them.
The Israelis began peppering the borders of Scotland’s penalty box with all manner of menacing early probes.
Scotland survived and as heads began to clear they found
their way up the field and into the contest. McGinn fired one over from 20 yards.
Then Dykes won a free-kick that Robertson curled only just wide of Ofir Marciano’s lefthand post.
Midway through the half came a close shave when Celtic’s Hatem Elhamed had a shot charged down by clubmate McGregor.
The longer it went on the more it began to look if Dykes had also been forced to selfisolate up there on his own, as neither McBurnie nor McGinn could get close enough to offer him any kind of company.
Israel could have taken the lead 10 minutes before the break when the other Celtic man in their ranks, Nir Bitton, got on the end of a dangerous dead-ball delivery. But thankfully he got his header horribly wrong, crashing it wide from six yards.
Then from nowhere the chance of the half came and went at the other end.
All McTominay had to do was pick his spot in the net as he found himself unmarked on the end of Robertson’s perfectly-placed corner. But totally unchallenged, he sent his header wide of Marciano’s right-hand post.
Scotland were almost in bother again at the start when Eyal Golasa let rip from 20 yards with a shot that dipped only just over the bar.
Scotland’s players screamed for a penalty after an untidy scramble in the Israeli box that led to the ball smashing into the arm of Eitan Tibi, apparently without any of the Romanian match officials noticing either. Okay, it would have been a soft award but Scotland would have taken it.
Still, at least the urgency levels were rising now, with Dykes in particular causing Israel’s defenders moments of unrest. He nearly set up McBurnie for a tap-in with one monumental stretch and header across the six-yard box but the Sheffield United man didn’t react quickly enough.
It was no great surprise when McBurnie was replaced by Shankland, with 18 minutes left. Then Ryan Fraser got the call to replace Ryan Jack.
And with only five minutes left another Robertson corner, another Scotland header – this time from the towering, impressive Gallagher – and another agonising missed target. To compound matters, Dykes limped off before extra time could begin, replaced by Callum Paterson.
At the end of the first period the ball dropped at the feet of McGregor whose volley from the edge of the box led to Eli Desa jabbing out a leg and blocking it on the line.
With five minutes left Elhamed cut Scotland open again with a delightful cross but sub Shon Weissman couldn’t get his to on it from just two yards out.
With the last flurry, Liam Cooper’s header smacked off the Israeli post and inevitably Scotland’s fate would be decided from the spot.