SCOTLAND stunned Greece with a 3-1 home win in their Group C qualifier on Thursday to take a big step towards a first World Cup since 1998 on a night that saw manager Steve Clarke equal the national record for most games in charge.
Goals from Ryan Christie, Lewis Ferguson and Lyndon Dykes turned the game around for the hosts after Kostas Tsimikas had given Greece a deserved lead just past the hour mark.
The Tartan Army had nothing to celebrate in the first half at Hampden Park when Scotland failed to muster a shot on target, with the visitors dominating possession but squandering opportunities.
Tsimikas made the breakthrough in the 62nd but Scotland hit back with Christie's surprise equaliser two minutes later after a VAR review.
Ferguson then grabbed a scruffy but sweet first international goal in the 80th and Dykes made it 3-1 three minutes into stoppage time after a goalkeeping howler by Konstantinos Tzolakis.
As the crowd went crazy, after boos at half-time, the BBC Scotland commentator summed up the outcome as “one of the most spectacular acts of pickpocketry you could see”.
Clarke said his side deserved it in the end.
“Football is a 90-minute game and you have to make sure you come out of it with a positive result. 3-1 maybe flatters us, but we did enough to win the game,“ he said.
Vangelos Pavlidis could have scored for Greece in the eighth minute but, unmarked at the back post, failed to get a final touch to a pass across goal from captain Anastasios Bakasetas. Georgios Masouras also fired over in the 54th.
The match was Clarke's 71st at the helm and he will beat Craig Brown's record when his still-unbeaten side host pointless Belarus on Sunday in a game that could secure at least a playoff spot for next year's finals.
Scotland are level on seven points, but behind on goal difference, with group leaders Denmark after three games.
Greece, the 2004 European champions, have three points and are teetering on the brink of an early exit with a crucial game away to the Danes on Sunday - REUTERS
