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| Scotland’s goal scoring hero Chris Martin tussles for the ball with Slovenia’s Aljaz Struna |
Chris Martin came off the substitutes’ bench to keep alive Scotland’s World Cup dreams with a dramatic 88th-minute winner in a 1-0 win that ended Slovenia’s unbeaten run in European qualifying group F on Sunday.
The victory at Hampden Park left Scotland’s under-pressure manager Gordon Strachan saluting his team, saying: “These guys re-energised our nation tonight.”
The Scots’ hero turned out to be centre forward Martin, who received some boos when he was brought on as a last-ditch hope for the home team but, within minutes, was being cheered to the rafters.
The victory breathed new life into the Scots’ dismal campaign, putting them on to seven points in fourth place, now just one behind Slovenia, who slipped back to third in the table behind Slovakia, nine, and runaway leaders England on 13.
It also gave them fresh hope as they look forward to their next group match, a clash with their oldest rivals England at Hampden Park in June.
“The players can be proud of themselves. We have got ourselves back in contention and we look forward to the next game now,” Strachan, whose own future as Scotland manager has been the subject of much speculation, told Sky Sports.
A half-empty Hampden had looked resigned to seeing Scotland fail to prevail against Slovenia in what Strachan had described as a “must-win” match.
The Scots were left cursing their bad luck after a first half during which Leigh Griffiths struck the woodwork twice in the space of a minute and Russell Martin had a headed goal ruled out for pushing.
Their chance of the crucial win looked lost when substitute Ikechi Anya missed a great chance but Chris Martin, brought on in the 81st minute, latched on to debutant Stuart Armstrong’s threaded through ball to strike home a left-foot shot.
It was a remarkable finale, especially as Derby County striker Martin, who is on loan at Fulham, is not too popular with a section of the Scottish fans.
“Chris Martin gets a good reception from the players and the staff. That is why we pick him,” Strachan said.
“He is in great company. Kenny Dalglish was booed, so was Gary McAllister, so was Alan Hansen. He must be some player.”
Strachan also had extravagant praise for the Celtic midfield newcomer Armstrong. “I think his could be the best Scottish debut I have ever seen,” said the manager.
Jamie Ward took just 90 seconds to score and set Northern Ireland on their way to a 2-0 home win over Norway in their World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park on Sunday to keep the Irish in contention for Russia next year.
Conor Washington scored the other goal in the 33rd minute as Northern Ireland moved on to 10 points in Group C, second and five points behind Germany and two ahead of the Czech Republic, who both won earlier on Sunday.
Ward curled in a shot from close range for a perfect start and Washington beat the offside trap to double the score not long after Alexander Soderlund had rattled the crossbar for the Norwegians, who have now lost four of their opening five qualifiers.
It was a disappointing debut for new Norway coach Lars Lagerback, who took Iceland through a fairytale performance at last year’s European Championship in France.
Summaries from the World Cup Qualifying European matches
Sunday, March 26
Northern Ireland 2 Jamie Ward 2, Conor Washington 32
Norway 0
Halftime: 2-0;
– – –
Montenegro 1 Stefan Mugosa 62
Poland 2 Robert Lewandowski 40, Lukasz Piszczek 81
Halftime: 0-1;Attendance: 10,439
– – –
Romania 0
Denmark 0
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 26,895
– – –
Malta 1 Jean-Paul Farrugia 14
Red Card: Jean-Paul Farrugia 79
Slovakia 3 Vladimir Weiss 2, Jan Gregus 41, Adam Nemec 84
Red Card: Adam Nemec 90+1
Halftime: 1-2;Attendance: 4,980
– – –
Scotland 1 Chris Martin 88
Slovenia 0
Halftime: 0-0;
– – –
San Marino 0
Czech Republic 6 Antonin Barak 17,23, Vladimir Darida 19,76pen, Theodor Gebre Selassie 25, Michal Krmencik 42
Halftime: 0-5;
– – –
Azerbaijan 1 Dimitrij Nazarov 30
Germany 4 Andre Schuerrle 19,80, Thomas Mueller 35, Mario Gomez 44
Halftime: 1-3;Attendance: 31,000
– – –
Armenia 2 Henrikh Mkhitaryan 73, Aras OEzbiliz 75
Kazakhstan 0
Red Card: Sergiy Maliy 64
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 12,000
– – –
England 2 Jermain Defoe 21, Jamie Vardy 66
Lithuania 0
Halftime: 1-0;Attendance: 77,690
– – –
Saturday, March 25
Bulgaria 2 Spas Delev 5,20
Netherlands 0
Halftime: 2-0;Attendance: 12,000
– – –
Luxembourg 1 Aurelien Joachim 34pen
France 3 Olivier Giroud 28,77, Antoine Griezmann 37pen
Halftime: 1-2;Attendance: 8,000
– – –
Portugal 3 Andre Silva 32, Cristiano Ronaldo 36,65
Hungary 0
Halftime: 2-0;Attendance: 57,886
– – –
Belgium 1 Romelu Lukaku 89
Greece 1 Kostantinos Mitroglou 46
Red Card: Panagiotis Tachtsidis 65, Giorgos Tzavellas 90+5
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 43,500
– – –
Sweden 4 Emil Forsberg 19pen,49, Marcus Berg 57, Isaac Thelin 78
Belarus 0
Halftime: 1-0;Attendance: 31,243
– – –
Switzerland 1 Josip Drmic 66
Latvia 0
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 25,000
– – –
Andorra 0
Faroe Islands 0
Red Card: Johan Simun Edmundsson 74
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 1,890
– – –
Cyprus 0
Estonia 0
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 3,864
– – –
Bosnia 5 Vedad Ibisevic 4,43, Avdija Vrsajevic 52, Edin Visca 56, Ermin Bicakcic 90+3
Gibraltar 0
Halftime: 2-0;Attendance: 10,000
– – –
Friday, March 24
Austria 2 Marko Arnautovic 75, Martin Harnik 90
Moldova 0
Halftime: 0-0;
– – –
Ireland 0
Wales 0
Red Card: Neil Taylor 69
Halftime: 0-0;
– – –
Liechtenstein 0
Macedonia 3 Boban Nikolov 43, Ilja Nestorovski 68,73
Missed penalty: Ilja Nestorovski 90
Halftime: 0-1;Attendance: 4,517
– – –
Italy 2 Daniele De Rossi 12pen, Ciro Immobile 71
Albania 0
Halftime: 1-0;Attendance: 33,136
– – –
Spain 4 David Silva 13, Vitolo 45+1, Diego Costa 51, Isco 88
Israel 1 Lior Refaelov 76
Halftime: 2-0;
– – –
Croatia 1 Nikola Kalinic 38
Ukraine 0
Halftime: 1-0;Attendance: 28,000
– – –
Kosovo 1 Atdhe Nuhiu 52
Iceland 2 Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson 25, Gylfi Sigurdsson 35pen
Halftime: 0-2;Attendance: 9,000
– – –
Georgia 1 Nika Kacharava 6
Serbia 3 Dusan Tadic 45pen, Aleksandar Mitrovic 64, Mijat Gacinovic 86
Halftime: 1-1;Attendance: 50,000
– – –
Turkey 2 Cenk Tosun 9,13
Finland 0
Halftime: 2-0;Attendance: 32,000
