SMASH AND GRAB: Steve Clarke hails resilience of Scots as they stun Greeks with second-half blitz

Scotland boss Steve Clarke praised the resilience of his players after they fought back to claim a stunning victory over Greece at Hampden.

It was a result which serves as a major boost to Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup finals.

Clarke’s side had been comprehensively outplayed for the first hour of the match, with the Greeks leading through a Kostas Tsimikas goal on the hour.

But the home side roared back and equalised through Ryan Christie, before Lewis Ferguson and Lyndon Dykes scored late to wrap up an improbable win.

The Scots were also grateful to goalkeeper Angus Gunn for making an outstanding save in stoppage time when the score was at 2-1.

Scotland now sit alongside Denmark at the top of the group, four points clear of Greece with three games to go.

‘It’s a big win for us,’ said Clarke. ‘It was a difficult first half, but we showed great attitude to dig in.

‘Football is played over 90 minutes. People maybe forget that at times.

‘We got lucky with the chance early in the game where the ball was played across and the Greek boy should have scored at the back post.

‘But, in the second half, scoring the equaliser so quickly after Greece scored was important for us.

‘I have spoken about the attitude and character of this group. The Scottish public should love to have them. They never know when they are beaten.

‘We need to kick on and make sure we take three points on Sunday against Belarus. We certainly won’t underestimate Belarus when they come here.

‘The Greeks were very good and very slick in possession. We couldn’t get pressure high up the pitch, we we had to drop off a bit.

‘But we got the shackles off and changed the shape of the team. The changes helped us at that stage in the game with getting Billy [Gilmour] on.

‘I thought when it went 1-1, the players sensed a chance to win the game and they took it.

‘Momentum is always important. We have good momentum right now, but we need to make sure that continues after Sunday.

‘On the performance side of it, you have to understand how hard we worked out of possession.

‘When Greece scored the goal, the shackles came off a bit and, from there, we finished the game strong.

‘The Greeks had a lot of the ball in the first half, but they weren’t carving us open.

‘Football is a 90-minute game and you have to make sure you come out of it with a positive result. Maybe 3-1 flatters us, but we did enough to win the game.

‘It gives us three points and takes us one step closer to what we want to do.’

On the crucial Gunn save, Clarke added: ‘Yeah, it was a good save. That’s what he’s there for.

‘Against top opposition, you always need your keeper to make some big saves. Angus certainly did that for us.’

Aaron Hickey picked up an injury that is likely to rule him out of Sunday’s clash with Belarus.

Christie and Ferguson also will not feature after picking up bookings against Greece.

‘Lewis Ferguson and Ryan Christie both miss out,’ added Clarke. ‘Aaron Hickey has picked up a small injury so I’ve got a bit of thinking to do.

‘We can only concentrate on ourselves. We have to win here and see what the situation is after that.

‘We don’t know the full extent of Aaron’s injury. It’s looking like we might need to make three changes, but we have a strong squad.

 Greece manager Ivan Jovanovic said: ‘There were some lapses in concentration from two set-pieces.

‘We played well with the ball but these mistakes cost us heavily.

‘Scotland took advantage of our mistakes. I don’t think they stole the victory or anything like that. They just punished our errors.

‘If we want to keep our chances of reaching the World Cup alive, we now need to win our final three games.’

The Danes thrashed Belarus 6-0 in the other Group C clash.