Scotland didn’t miss the Tartan Army too much as they picked up a crucial World Cup qualifying win against Belarus.
The fans who made the trip to Hungary were locked out of the ZTE Arena, with the hosts ordered to play games behind closed doors in a neutral venue due to the country’s support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It was quiet but Steve Clarke’s side made their presence felt as Scott McTominay fired wide before Billy Gilmour’s effort was turned onto the post.
Belarus’ Zakhar Volkov scores an own goal to make it 2-0 Scotland
Che Adams stabbed home from McTominay’s header just before half-time with Zakhar Volkov nodding Gilmour’s ball into his own net in the second half to secure the victory.
Scotland go into the home double-header against Greece and Belarus at Hampden Park next month with four points from six on the road, two clean sheets and the chance to build on a strong start, while Denmark’s 3-0 win in Greece also takes them on to four points but with a slightly better goal difference.
Solid start has Scotland on track
Scotland’s Billy Gilmour (centre) celebrates after Belarus’ Zakhar Volkov scores an own goal
After a demanding evening in Copenhagen, Clarke freshened his side up as winger Ben Gannon Doak came in with Max Johnston, Scott McKenna and Billy Gilmour also starting.
In the 15th minute of a game that harked back to Covid times, there was a penalty shout when Gilmour went to ground inside the Belarus box under a challenge from Kiryl Pechenin but Montenegrin referee Nikola Dabanovic was not interested.
At the other end, a header from Pechenin required a save from Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn.
The match was warming up and Gilmour, defender John Souttar and midfielder Scott McTominay all had various efforts on the Belarusians’ goal – and the Napoli midfielder claimed unconvincingly for a penalty when he clashed with Yegor Parkhomenko inside the Belarus box – but the opener would not come.
Adams opens the scoring
With half-time approaching, Gannon Doak set up Gilmour and his powerful drive from 20 yards was tipped on to the post and away by Fyodor Lapoukhov.
The Belarus ‘keeper was eventually beaten when John McGinn’s searching delivery to the back post was headed back by McTominay with Adams bundling the ball in from a yard out, his first goal since scoring a hat-trick against Liechtenstein in the June friendly.
A second goal was needed to ease the nerves which surfaced with sporadic Belarus attacks and it came when the luckless Volkov redirected a header from Gilmour’s cross into his own net.
Ben Gannon-Doak (right) started for Scotland in Hungary
If not resigning themselves to defeat, Belarus did little to suggest there would be a comeback with McGinn and Adams testing their defence and goalkeeper late on.
There will no doubt be tougher tests to come before Scotland are able to book their place in the World Cup finals for the first time in 27 years.
Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers
- Greece (H) – October 9
- Belarus (H) – October 12
- Greece (A) – November 15
- Denmark (H) – November 18