After an amazing night of drama Scotland’s World Cup hopes remain in their own hands despite a 3-2 defeat to Greece.
Elsewhere Belarus held Denmark to a 2-2 draw which means a win over the Danes on Tuesday will guarantee a place at next year’s finals in North America.
Greece opened the scoring in the seventh minute. A mistake from John Souttar allowed Vangelis Pavlidis to shoot and although Craig Gordon saved the ball fell to Tasos Bakasetas who fired it low into the bottom corner of the net.
Greece totally dominated the rest of the first half but just before the break Scott McTominay’s first time strike came crashing back off the bar then Che Adams’ back post header hit the side netting and Ben Gannon Doak had a great chance but saw his shot saved.
After the restart Ryan Christie burst through and squared to Adams but his two efforts were blocked.
In the 57th minute Konstantinos Karetsas fired an unstoppable finish past Gordon then six minutes later Christos Tzolis hit a powerful effort that slipped through Gordon’s hands to make it 3-0.
At the other end John McGinn crossed from the left and Gannon Doak fired home his first international goal from close range.
With 20 minutes left, Scotland made it 3-2 when Andy Robertson’s cross was headed home by Christie.
Bakasetas’ was sent off for a second yellow card but despite creating a number of chances Scotland could not get the equaliser.
The players remained on the field awaiting the final score in Copenhagen, where Denmark and Belarus were locked at 2-2. And that’s how it finished.
After the final whistle Scotland captain Andy Robertson told BBC Scotland: “That’s what we wanted… [to still have a chance of qualifying automatically].
“We cannot concede three goals, that’s hugely disappointing. We had eight or nine really big chances so we got the attacking bit right tonight, but we didn’t get the defensive stuff right.
“We could’ve come away with a draw and nobody would’ve said that at 3-0 down. A draw wouldn’t have mattered anyway because Denmark drew.
“Winner takes all on Tuesday, that’s all we could ask for. People were writing us off from the start of the group now we’ve got a shoot-out to win the group and it’s all to play for on Tuesday.
“We heard the fans start cheering when we were 3-1 down which was a bit strange, but we didn’t know what went on.
“We’re disappointed with the result today, but to have a final against Denmark at home, with a play-off still in the bag, what more can you ask for?”
