CLARKE’S MEN GET THE JOB DONE
Dykes pounces to grab a crucial victory but Scots miss a glut of chances and will now have to sharpen up ahead of Austrian test
AFTER the debacle of Denmark, Steve Clarke needed a dominant performance to supplement the minimum requirement of a Hampden victory.
Against a limited Moldovan side he got both. Yet Scotland will need to sharpen up considerably if they are to make a proper World Cup qualifying statement against Austria in midweek.
Lyndon Dykes’ first international goal in almost a year was a timely affair for both striker and country heading into Tuesday’s crucial clash in Vienna.
Despite losing 5-2 to Israel last night, the Austrians are unlikely to hand out the volume of chances spurned by a clutch of the Queens Park Rangers man’s team-mates.
After the comparatively sparse numbers permitted access for the Euros, it was good to see and hear Hampden close to its best self with 40,869 noisy fans in attendance.
The players fed off the atmosphere and the edge that Clarke had referred to pre-match, a quality missing in the 2-0 defeat in Copenhagen last midweek, was evident from the first whistle.
There were no fewer than six changes to the starting XI and, pleasingly, Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney also began in their favoured international positions.
After a thoroughly uncomfortable stint at right wing-back on Wednesday, captain Robertson marked the occasion of his 50th cap on the left, with Nathan Patterson stepping in for his first international start on the other side.
Jack Hendry, signed by Oostende from Celtic for £1.75 million after the Euros then flipped for a profit to Club Brugge on transfer deadline day, added a ball-playing aspect to the back three.
Up front, Kevin Nisbet was in for his first international start alongside Dykes, while Ryan Christie and John McGinn added verve and no little guile to the midfield.
Against a team ranked 175th in the world — below Chinese Taipei and Andorra — a handsome win should not have been beyond the Scots.
Oddly underused by Steven Gerrard since the start of the season, Patterson was clearly bursting to make an impression and combined with McGinn to dispatch the game’s first shot with his left foot.
That enthusiasm would help
Scotland claim the opening goal but it also resulted in some scruffy passing that prompted Robertson to implore the Rangers starlet to calm down.
Yet his verve and vigour was the launchpad to this victory. Quick as lightning to intercept Moldovan captain Igor Armas’s undercooked pass, the full-back drove forward and picked the correct option to feed Nisbet, who had peeled wide.
The return pass invited a firsttime shot, Patterson’s effort being tipped by keeper Cristian Avram only into the path of Dykes, who tapped in his third Scotland goal.
Each headed to a different corner flag to celebrate but you’d have thought Patterson was the scorer such was his joy as he hopped, jumped and pumped his fists. His jubilation was a delight to behold.
Moldova had a couple of pot-shots but were offering no substantial threat. With Billy Gilmour dictating and McGinn and Christie foraging, Scotland’s grip of the midfield guaranteed chances.
Nisbet wanted too much time as he arrived at the end of a move engineered by Gilmour and Dykes, while Tierney really ought to have scored with a free header from a Gilmour corner.
Avram tipped that one over the crossbar and also just about got himself down in time to prevent the Arsenal man scoring with a speculative shot from distance.
The shots kept coming, Robertson fired over with an opportunity reminiscent of a similar incident in the Euros opener against the Czechs, while Gilmour’s firm effort was held by the goalkeeper. And yet…
Mihail Ghecev had been wasteful as he locked on to one of those early miscues from Patterson but produced something much more menacing at the end of a uniquely purposeful counter.
Scrambling down to his left, Craig Gordon was relived to see the shot flash wide.
And then came a headed chance for Maxim Potirniche from a set play. Hendry did enough to nudge the ball wide for another corner but it would have added a note of caution to Clarke’s half-time pep-talk.
Despite taking a knock late in the first half, Patterson began the second 45 at full throttle and asked a question of referee Lawrence Vissel after toppling as he burrowed between Oleg Reabciuk and Artur Ionita and into the box.
Play was waved on and if Reabciuk was lucky not to be penalised, he was even more fortunate not to be punished as he gave away the ball to McGinn on the edge of the box. Team-mate Vadim Bolohan bailed him out by blocking the shot.
Grant Hanley headed over from a Gilmour corner but despite Scotland’s continued dominance, Ghecev’s half-time replacement Cristian Dros served another warning with a long-range shot that kept Gordon active and underlined the importance of taking at least one more of those regular chances at the other end.
Nisbet stung Avram’s palms with
an angled shot before Gilmour reacted quickest to intercept the keeper’s subsequent throw.
After swapping passes with Nisbet, Norwich’s on-loan midfielder should have put matters to bed but swept his shot wide.
After ten days in isolation following a positive Covid test, it was perhaps no surprise to see McGinn replaced by Callum McGregor midway through the half, while Che Adams arrived for Nisbet to freshen up the attack.
Clarke’s conservative streak was further evidenced by Gilmour and Robertson going off, presumably to conserve energy ahead of Vienna.
Adams fired a couple of efforts off target but it was Christie who was presented with the match’s final invitation to score. Emboldened by a fine start to the season at Celtic and a transfer to Bournemouth, he really ought to have found the net.
Instead he blazed the ball high over the bar.
Shooting practice will surely be Clarke’s training ground priority over the next couple of days.