Scotland moved two points clear at the top of their Nations League group after beating Ukraine 3-0 at Hampden Park.
Steve Clarke’s side opened the scoring through John McGinn (70) – standing in as captain for the injured Andy Robertson – before Lyndon Dykes headed in twice from corners (80, 87) to make amends against Ukraine following defeat in June’s World Cup semi-final play-off.
Scotland’s John McGinn celebrates scoring to make it 1-0 against Ukraine in Nations League
Pressure was building on Scotland after a raft of missed chances by Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie and Che Adams in what was an impressive showing from the hosts, but the floodgates opened after McGinn broke the deadlock to the relief of the Hampden Park crowd.
Scotland have taken control of Group B1, with only two games left to play against Republic of Ireland and Ukraine. Promotion to the top tier of the Nation’s League would give Scotland a second chance at qualification for Euro 2024 via the play-offs should they miss out initially.
How Scotland made amends against Ukraine
Scotland’s Kieran Tierney and Ukraine’s Valeriy Bondar during Nations League match
Scotland had the best of the chances in a scrappy first half, with Christie heading over after getting underneath Armstrong’s cross before narrowly mistiming his follow-up run after the Southampton midfielder’s shot was kept out by Ukraine goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk, who has been a transfer target for Arsenal and Brentford, was a constant thorn in the side of Everton right-back Nathan Patterson until he was stretched off but was largely kept quiet in the second half by Brentford’s Aaron Hickey on in his place.
Adams led the line well for Scotland and thought he had broken through the Ukraine defence in the closing stages of the first half until he was body-checked by Valeriy Bondar. Scotland boss Steve Clarke was incensed on the touchline and felt it was deserving of a red card, but Oleksandr Karavaev was on the cover and Adams’ last touch took the ball away from goal.
Scotland were spurred on by the perceived injustice of the decision after the break and Armstrong had two chances to break the deadlock, but was denied by Trubin before firing over from close range with the goal seemingly at his mercy after a neat one-two with Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.
Adams had two big opportunities to score with his head at the back post but was denied by the crossbar and Ukraine goalkeeper Trubin, before floating a cross into Armstrong only for the midfielder to spurn his third key chance in a matter of minutes with a poor mistimed header.
But Scotland eventually got the breakthrough when McGinn outmuscled Bondar just inside the box before turning and firing a low, drilled strike into the bottom corner to the relief of the Hampden Park crowd.
Clarke’s decision to bring on Dykes and Ryan Fraser paid immediate dividends, as the Newcastle wide-man set up the QPR striker for two impressive headed goals from two almost identical corner routines to leave Scotland needing to beat the Republic of Ireland and draw with Ukraine to ensure promotion.
What’s next?
Scotland’s next game is on Saturday as they face the Republic of Ireland at Hampden Park in a 7.45pm kick-off.
Steve Clarke’s side then face Ukraine in an away fixture on Tuesday which will be played in Krakow, Poland due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The 7.45pm kick-off at the 15,000-capacity Marshal Jozef Pilsudski Stadium is Scotland’s final Nations League game of their Group B1 campaign.