Scotland secured their first three points of the European Championship 2016 qualifying campaign after beating Georgia 1-0 at Ibrox on Saturday evening.
An own goal from Akaki Khubutia was enough to give Gordon Strachan’s side a morale-boosting win ahead of a through trip to Poland tomorrow.
Despite Scotland having numerous chances to add to their tally through Scott Brown (pictured) and Steven Naismith, they could not extend their lead and with Georgia failing to test keeper David Marshall, it was a nervy ending to the game.
Scotland were looking to take all three points against Georgia after their opening Group D 2-1 defeat to world champions Germany and set out in an attacking fashion.
Hull City’s Andrew Robertson and Celtic’s Brown were the stand-out performers throughout the 90 minutes for the Scots. Time and time again Robertson drove down the left flank in partnership with Ikechi Anya before firing in numerous tempting crosses, but neither Steven Fletcher nor Naismith could take advantage with both lacking touch and form.
Georgia’s game plan of sitting back and defending allowed Scotland to continue to drive forward, and it was a mixture of stout defending and a poor final third that prevented Strachan’s side from taking the lead.
Scotland’s domination was eventually rewarded when a goal-bound shot from Shaun Maloney was saved by Georgian keeper Loria only to see it deflect off Khubutia and into the net.
Naismith missed a number of clear chances after great link up play with Steven Fletcher but the Everton forward’s touch was lacking and failed to beat Loria.
Skipper Brown then saw his shot deflected agonisingly inches wide of the Georgian goal, after great play down the right from Alan Hutton.
With Scotland leading 1-0, as Georgia stepped up their game in the second half, the nerves began to appear and Georgia nearly secured an undeserving equaliser through Nikoloz Gelashvili, but the striker fired his shot off target.
Fletcher again set up Naismith with a nice back heel. However, the former Rangers man shot wide of the goal once more.
James Morrison then went close from eight yards out, before substitute Irakli Dzaria almost made Scotland pay for these missed chances, but his shot went wide of Marshall’s goal to Scotland’s relief.
Scotland now travel to Warsaw tomorrow to face Poland, who shocked the world champions on Saturday night, winning 2-0.