McTominay is injury-time Scotland hero

SCOTT McTominay’s stoppagetime winner secured Scotland the most dramatic 3-2 World Cup qualifying victory over Israel at a soggy Hampden Park.

On a day when relaxed Covid restrictions meant a capacity crowd of around 50,000, Israeli striker Eran Zahavi dampened down expectations after less than five minutes when he curled in a superb free-kick.

John McGinn levelled in the 29th minute with a fine drive, but Munas Dabbur restored Israel’s lead two minutes later after the hosts failed to defend a set-piece.

Lyndon Dykes had a penalty saved by Ofir Marciano just before the interval, but the striker made up for that in the second half with a VAR-awarded goal.

Then, deep into six added minutes of a breathless tie, McTominay bundled in a McGinn corner and bedlam ensued.

Steve Clarke’s side remain in second place in Group F on 14 points behind runaway leaders Denmark ahead of a trip to the

Faroe Islands tomorrow, where three points will be expected in the quest for a play-off spot.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Callum Robinson struck a decisive brace as the Republic of Ireland won a competitive match for the first time under manager Stephen Kenny in Azerbaijan.

Robinson hit two first-half goals to set the stage for a 3-0 World Cup qualifying win in Baku.

The success, rounded off by substitute Chiedozie Ogbene’s late header, was Ireland’s first in a meaningful fixture since they beat Gibraltar 2-0 in June 2019, some 16 attempts ago.

However, there was a horrible sense of deja vu for Northern Ireland as a refereeing decision contributed to a pivotal defeat by Switzerland.

After Jamal Lewis was shown an extremely harsh second yellow card for taking too long over a throw-in, Steven Zuber and Christian Fassnacht sealed a 2-0 victory for the hosts.

On Friday night, Wales battled back from conceding a bizarre Danny Ward own goal to keep their World Cup qualifying hopes alive with a 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic in Prague.

Aaron Ramsey gave Wales a 36th-minute lead, while Daniel James equalised after the hosts turned things around.