On a famous Hampden Park night, Scotland stunned three-time European Championship winners Spain by securing a 2-0 victory to claim a stronghold on top-spot in Group A.
Though not widely known for his goalscoring exploits, Scott McTominay scored twice in Scotland’s 3-0 victory over Cyprus and the Manchester United man was incredibly back on the goal trail tonight. A little over five minutes were on the clock when a costly Pedro Porro slip allowed Andy Robertson to cut the ball back to the on-rushing McTominay, whose deflected strike fired Scotland into a surprise lead.
Another two goal hero in his side’s opening game, Joselu was out to replicate McTominay’s goalscoring exploits, but his header crashed back off the bar as Spain pushed for an equaliser. That reprieve seemed to buoy Scotland a little, who were unlucky not to take a two goal lead into half-time when Lyndon Dykes raced onto the end of a hopeful ball in behind the Spanish defence, but his lofted effort dropped agonisingly over the bar.
Scotland didn’t have to wait long to double their advantage though, as inside the first ten minutes of the second half that man McTominay was at it again, reacting quickest to slam home on the volley to the delight of a delirious Hampden Park. Spain had offered precious little throughout the game, and even a raft of changes by boss Luis de la Fuente failed to have the desired effect, as the Spanish continued to struggle in front of goal.
In truth, Spain were rather sub-standard by their own exceptionally high standards and never truly looked like foraging a way back into the game despite the best efforts of Iago Aspas who spurned a glorious opportunity to halve the arrears. The night belonged to Scotland though, who in opening their qualification campaign with two successive wins for the first time since their failed attempt to qualify for Euro 2008, secured an eighth successive major tournament qualification victory outside of play-off games.
