Keeper calls on Scotland to take the fight to Moldova

CRAIG GORDON, the Scotland goalkeeper, has called on his national team-mates to show the same battling qualities they displayed in their narrow 1-0 victory over the Faroe Islands and extend their four-game winning run against Moldova next month.

Steve Clarke’s side narrowly avoided a disastrous draw against opponents who are in 114th place in the FIFA World Rankings in a vital Qatar 2022 qualifier in Torshavn on Tuesday night.

It took a Lyndon Dykes goal with four minutes of regulation time remaining to secure a narrow 1-0 triumph over the Group F minnows.

However, Gordon, who pulled off an outstanding save in the first half in Torsvollur to prevent the visitors from falling behind, felt the gutsy performance underlined the togetherness of the Scotland squad.

And the Hearts man is convinced that if they reproduce their showing against Moldova in Chisinau on November 12 they can clinch second spot in their section and progress to the play-offs in March.

“We are a tight-knit group, we work really well together and we never know when we’re beat,” he told BBC Sport. “We kept fighting until the very end.

“We did say pre-match that we would need to play for the full 90 minutes. We knew Denmark only got a late goal and the Faroes made it very difficult for us. We stuck to it, we kept going and we found a way in the end.

“It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t our best performance coming off at the end, but it’s three points nonetheless at a vital stage in this group.”

Gordon added: “We went on a great winning run just at the right time and we will need to continue that. Israel won on Tuesday night as well so we need to keep winning.”