LAST NIGHT’S BIG-MATCH VERDICT
GROUP I
P BELGIUM ................ 7 RUSSIA ................... 7 CYPRUS .................. 7 KAZAKHSTAN ......... 7 SCOTLAND ............. 7 SAN MARINO .......... 7 minutes before the break when he dealt well with a crisp drive from Aleksander Golovin after the slippery Monaco man had tiptoed his way through the heart of the keeper’s defence.
That Clarke opted to remove Burke at the break and replace him with new boy Lawrence Shankland suggested the manager’s patience had also been exhausted.
Suddenly, with this extra element of control further up the field, Scotland were able to get out from the back and even force the Russians on to the back foot.
In 52 minutes there was even half a chance for Snodgrass after more good work from Shankland allowed Fraser to swing in a cross from the right. The West Ham man stretched to get his head on it but couldn’t make sufficient contact to redirect on target.
And yet, as quickly as that moment came and went, all of Scotland’s hard W 7 6 3 2 2 0 D 0 0 1 1 0 0 L 0 1 3 4 5 7 F A PT 28 1 21 22 4 18 13 7 10 9 11 7 5 17 6 0 37 0 work was about to come crashing down around their ears.
The first concession was an alarmingly familiar affair, coming as it did from a routine corner kick that has become a nasty habit in this campaign.
This time Golovin fizzed the delivery into the six-yard box and Artem Dzyuba held off Charlie Mulgrew to smash a hip-height volley home from close range.
On the hour Golovin teed up Magomed Ozdoev for a shot from what seemed an improbable distance only for the Zenit man to send it screaming into the top-right corner of Marshall’s net with the keeper clawing at thin air.
All at once Scotland’s fate here was sealed. There was to be no miracle in Moscow after all. It was now only a matter of how messy this defeat was to become.
The answer arrived within 10 minutes when the Russians worked a short corner and netted for a third time after Mulgrew had been barged into at the back post as he attempted to clear the danger. The ball dropped at the feet of Dzyuba – of course it did – who prodded home amid Scotland’s growing defensive confusion.
But the Russians weren’t finished at the other end and with six minutes left Golovin claimed the goal his performance deserved, guiding a mis-hit shot in off the base of Marshall’s post then celebrating almost in embarrassment as it bobbled into the back of the net. TLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME ON SCOTLAND... COME