Sir Alex enjoys United man’s late clincher Scott wins it in Fergie time
SIR Alex Ferguson was on the pitch at half-time but it was the hairdryer treatment of Steve Clarke that set Scotland on course for a World Cup playoff — and how fitting a Manchester United man got the winner in Fergie time.
Centre-back Scott McTominay, up for a corner in the 94th minute, was the home hero as he bundled in with his thigh after John McGinn’s delivery was helped on by Jack Hendry.
Cue pandemonium inside Hampden Park, sold out for the first time since before the pandemic and treated to the most exhilarating remedy to the ills of the period in between.
This was bonkers. Brilliant. The sort of game you did not want to end, even if home fans were screaming for the whistle in the seconds after McTominay’s goal.
So what does it all mean? If Scotland can beat Faroe Islands and Moldova in their next two matches, they will have secured a play-off place for next year’s finals.
Not that this was easy. In fact, they made it look damn hard during the first half. Trailing 2-1 and having missed an injurytime penalty through Lyndon Dykes, Clarke tore into his team in the dressingroom. Ferguson would have been proud.
‘I told them at half-time, if you want to lose a game, you are doing it in the perfect fashion,’ said Clarke. ‘We needed to play with more tempo. More ambition. We then went and did that until the 96th minute, and got our reward.’
Dykes made good his penalty howler within 10 minutes of the second half, turning in at the near post from Andy Robertson’s cross.
It was at first disallowed for a high boot but, when a VAR check revealed it was more a case of a low head from the Israeli defender, the goal was given.
Scotland had chances to win it as both Dykes and McGinn were guilty of poor close-range misses. Thankfully for them, McTominay was not about to pass up such an opportunity. And even though his goal was an ugly nudge, it was a thing of beauty for the Tartan Army.
The fact it came from a corner would also have been a relief for new set-piece coach Austin MacPhee. The Aston Villa specialist has been brought in by Clarke to help make the difference from dead-ball situations.
You can only assume he has spent the past few days working on attacking set-plays for, by halftime, Scotland had conceded twice from free-kicks.
They did employ the tactic of a man lying down behind the wall as Eran Zahavi lined up from 20 yards on five minutes. But Zahavi’s effort whipped inches above their heads and into the net. McGinn’s wonderfully curled equaliser was the only moment of quality from the Scots in the first half. But, within three minutes, from another free-kick, Munas Dabbur stabbed in.
Dykes’ scuffed penalty infuriated his manager. Clarke’s anger, however, would prove inspirational.