Christie fires eight in Scots’ 27-goal romp

Patrick Christie struck eight goals as Scotland fired 27 in their first two matches of the European Indoor Championships III in Nicosia yesterday.

Hosts Cyprus were first thumped 13-1 as head coach Stuart Neave’s charges bid for promotion to Europe’s second tier.

Christie’s four goals were supplemented by Fergus Sandison (2), Luke Cranney (2), Jamie Carnegie (2) and Gordon Amour (2), along with one by captain Gavin Byers.

The only blemish came in the second half when defender Josh Cairns was sent to the sin bin.

Neave said: “It was a really good performance. The team worked hard to break down their defence and we got there by being patient and positive. We scored some really good goals, had chances to score more, and it was a very positive team performance.”

Christie was red-hot with another four goals in the 14-0 destruction of Greece in the second game of the day, but this time he had to share the stage with Cairns, who equalled his feat.

Goals by Cranney (2), Byers (2), Sandison and Callum Milne piled on the misery for the Greeks.

Neave added: “It was a really good performance – we took it up a notch and scored lots of goals. We stuck to the game plan and got our reward.”

With six points and 27 goals, Neave’s charges are in pole position, but today will be more testing as they play Belarus and Slovakia, who are also in contention for promotion.