16 Nov 202319.35 GMTNo word from Steve Clarke, but no worries, because Ewan Murray’s report has landed. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
Scott McTominay isn’t happy with Georgia, telling Viaplay: “They’ve got some really good footballers but tonight the way they were acting on the pitch was a disgrace in terms of provoking the referee and obviously us as players … it’s not the way it should go … anyway, that’s football and that’s sometimes how it goes … we just have to keep our heads but it’s difficult … they should do something about people pretending they’re injured when they’re not … rolling around crying like babies all afternoon is not football … they were provoking the referee a lot.”
16 Nov 202319.19 GMTOnly two players have scored more goals for Scotland in a calendar year than Scott McTominay: Denis Law and Colin Stein. Here’s the list; not bad company he’s keeping, eh.
11: Denis Law (1963)
8: Colin Stein (1969)
7: Kenny Dalglish (1977), Steven Fletcher (2015), John McGinn (2019), Scott McTominay (2023)
Scotland’s goalscoring hero Lawrence Shankland talks to Viaplay. “There was quite a lot of pressure on their box at the time I came on … it was just about being in and around the goal and hopefully the chance would come … Stuart Armstrong has hung it up well … I’m just grateful to get the goal … it’s a difficult place to come … they’re a good team with good players … we can leave here pleased that we’ve got the point.”
16 Nov 202319.02 GMTOnce again it was a fractious affair between these two teams. At least the coaches Willy Sagnol and Steve Clarke enjoy a friendly embrace. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was his usual brilliant self; Scotland rediscovered the grit that had already secured qualification to earn a draw and snap their three-game losing streak. They’ll feel much better now going into the final match of the group against Norway next week. Georgia travel to Spain, who have just won 3-1 in Cyprus and will now almost certainly win the group.
16 Nov 202318.58 GMTFULL TIME: Georgia 2-2 Scotland
Scotland take something home from Tbilisi at last!
16 Nov 202318.57 GMT90 min +8: Zivzivadze shoots from a tight angle on the left. Clark is behind it all the way. That should be that.
16 Nov 202318.57 GMT90 min +7: Georgia stroke it around though not to any great end.
16 Nov 202318.56 GMT90 min +5: Armstrong is booked for a garden-variety tackle on Kochorashvili, who rolls about in his normal style. “It’s embarrassing,” Armstrong clearly sighs, gesticulating to the performance going on nearby.
16 Nov 202318.53 GMT90 min +4: That’s the least Scotland deserve for their efforts this evening. Can they go on to find a winner? Can they hold on for the draw?
16 Nov 202318.52 GMTGOAL! Georgia 2-2 Scotland (Shankland 90+2)
Shankland wasn’t in the squad until Che Adams withdrew, and now look! Armstrong curls in from a deep position on the left. Shankland rises highest at the far stick and plants a header across Mamardashvili and into the net!
90 min +1: The resulting free kick comes to nothing. There will be seven added minutes.
16 Nov 202318.50 GMT90 min: McGinn dribbles into the Georgian box down the right. He whips a fierce shot-cum-cross through the six-yard box. Any connection and it’s in, but the ball flies over to the other side of the pitch. Ferguson retrieves it, only to be skelped at pace by Kvaratskhelia, who goes into the referee’s increasingly expansive notebook.
16 Nov 202318.48 GMT89 min: McGinn swings in from the right. Ferguson wins a header at the far stick, but can’t get any power on his effort. Easy for Mamardashvili, who flops to the floor in the name of clock management.
16 Nov 202318.47 GMT88 min: Davitashvili scythes through Ralston. Just a free kick. No idea how it’s not a yellow. McGinn’s delivery into the box isn’t all that, and Georgia continue to hold firm.
16 Nov 202318.47 GMT87 min: It’s attack versus defence, but there’s no way through for Scotland. Mamardashvili hasn’t had anything to do since Kvaratskhelia’s second, the save from Dykes apart. “This is the Scotland we know and love,” writes Simon McMahon. “The big difference being that we’re already Germany bound. Never has losing to a third-rate former Soviet republic felt so good.”
16 Nov 202318.45 GMT86 min: Dykes makes way for Shankland.
16 Nov 202318.44 GMT84 min: McLean crosses from the left but there’s nobody in the centre positioned to take advantage. Time running out for Scotland.
16 Nov 202318.43 GMT82 min: McTominay strides out of defence at speed. Kochorashvili chases and cynically clips him to the ground. It’s a yellow card all day long. Then he leans over his victim and cops a shove in the chest. He goes down holding his face. What a performance.
16 Nov 202318.40 GMT81 min: Armstrong’s first act is to pass the ball straight out of play. Scotland’s frustration is beginning to betray them.
16 Nov 202318.39 GMT79 min: … and then Scotland send on Ralston and Armstrong for Patterson and Taylor. Finally McTominay gets to take the free kick, and he blams it wildly over the bar.
16 Nov 202318.38 GMT78 min: … and then Georgia swap Chakvetadze and Lochoshvili for Kalandadze and Davitashvili.
16 Nov 202318.37 GMT77 min: Before the free kick can be taken, Lochoshvili goes down and takes his sweet time to get up again. Scotland are getting a bit frustrated by what they perceive to be playacting.
16 Nov 202318.36 GMT76 min: Ferguson, McGregor and McGinn ping the ball crisply down the inside-right channel. Kochorashvili comes across to skittle Ferguson to the ground, just to the right of the D. Free kick coming up.
16 Nov 202318.33 GMT74 min: Scotland do quite a lot of huffing and puffing. They’re seeing plenty of the ball, but are doing very little with it.
16 Nov 202318.31 GMT72 min: Shengelia goes down holding his shoulder and is replaced by Azarov.
16 Nov 202318.30 GMT70 min: A double change for Georgia, as Kvekveskiri and Mikautadze make way for Zivzivadze and Mekvabishvili.
16 Nov 202318.29 GMT68 min: McLean crosses from the left. Dykes knocks down for McTominay, who shapes like Zinedine Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final but doesn’t connect like him. The ball squirts across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. Ferguson tried to bundle the mishit ball goalwards but Kakabadze ushered him away from it.
16 Nov 202318.26 GMT67 min: McGinn nicks the ball off Lochoshvili’s toe on the edge of the D. The heist should set up a dangerous Scotland attack, with Dykes and Ferguson both in attendance, but the referee absurdly awards a free kick to Georgia.
16 Nov 202318.24 GMT65 min: McGregor crosses long from a deep position on the right. Ferguson attempts to win a header on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, but Mamardashvili rises high to pluck the ball off his neep.
16 Nov 202318.23 GMT63 min: Mikautadze and Kvaratskhelia bear down on the Scotland box. Ferguson and Porteous stand firm and ensure there’s no way through. This game has suddenly opened up entertainingly. More goals to come, surely.
16 Nov 202318.21 GMT61 min: Patterson and McLean combine to win a corner down the left. McTominay whips it to the near post. Dykes sends a powerful flicked header towards the top left, but Mamardashvili claws it out. So close to a second equaliser!
16 Nov 202318.20 GMT60 min: The resulting free kick is swung in from the left by McGinn. McLean flicks it on to nobody in particular. But Scotland win the ball back quickly and McGinn has a whack from distance. The ball deflects and loops high, then back down into the arms of Mamardashvili.
16 Nov 202318.18 GMT59 min: Kverkvelia is booked for an agricultural slide through the back of Ferguson.
16 Nov 202318.18 GMT58 min: Kvaratskhelia’s shot wasn’t tight in the corner, mind. A question mark over Clark. It wasn’t an appalling error, and the shot was hit fiercely, but the ball was within the keeper’s reach.
16 Nov 202318.17 GMTGOAL! Georgia 2-1 Scotland (Kvaratskhelia 57)
A second goal for Kvaratskhelia! The corner’s worked out from right to left. Kvaratskhelia cuts in from the wing, enters the box, and arrows low and hard into the bottom right! Scotland weren’t level for long
56 min: Shengelia shapes to cross long, then tries to surprise Clark by whipping the free kick towards the top-right corner. Clark gets over well to push around the post with two strong hands. But from the corner …
16 Nov 202318.15 GMT55 min: … so having said that, Mikautadze makes good down the inside right and draws a clumsy foul from McLean. A free kick in a dangerous position, just to the right of the Scotland box.
16 Nov 202318.14 GMT54 min: A simple long pass nearly releases Ferguson down the middle. Georgia, who flew out of the blocks at the start of this second half, suddenly look befuddled.
16 Nov 202318.13 GMT52 min: McLean and Taylor combine down the inside-left channel. A better ball from the latter would have teed up Dykes on the edge of the box, but he rolls it inaccurately. What a shame.
16 Nov 202318.11 GMT51 min: McTominay’s goal record for Scotland is now officially absurd. Seven goals in seven qualifying matches! He’s not been too shabby for Manchester United either. One of the players of the season so far.
16 Nov 202318.09 GMTGOAL! Georgia 1-1 Scotland (McTominay 49)
Who else? A seventh goal for Scott McTominay in this campaign! And it’s a nice one. Some crisp triangulation down the middle by the Scots. McLean then slips to McTominay, just to the right of the D. He digs it out from under his feet and whistles a low drive into the bottom right!
47 min: Kvaratskhelia turns on the jets and skins Porteous down the left. Patterson comes across to concede a corner. The set piece is cut back for Chakvetadze, who blazes over from distance.
46 min: A slight surprise that Gilmour has been hooked. He was one of Scotland’s better players in the first half.
16 Nov 202318.04 GMTGeorgia get the second half underway. Lewis Ferguson and Kenny McLean have replaced Ryan Christie and Billy Gilmour.
16 Nov 202317.50 GMTHalf-time entertainment. Hoagy Carmichael might have had a different state on his mind, but yearning is yearning. Oh Scotland.
HALF TIME: Georgia 1-0 Scotland
It’s happening again.
16 Nov 202317.48 GMT45 min +2: Porteous looks long for Dykes. Easy for the Georgian defence. It’s better when Scotland pass it around, and they work it wide to Patterson, whose low cross is hacked clear.
16 Nov 202317.47 GMT45 min +1: The first of three additional first-half minutes ticks by.
16 Nov 202317.47 GMT45 min: Kochorashvili again goes down holding his face, this time in the vague environs of McGregor. The referee shows no interest in his carry-on.
16 Nov 202317.46 GMT44 min: All of Scotland’s best work has come down Patterson’s flank. He digs out an excellent cross from near the right-hand corner flag. Christie wins a header at the far stick but unconvincingly so. Still, baby steps for the Scottish attack.
16 Nov 202317.44 GMT43 min: Mikautadze nutmegs Porteous with a backheel. Dearie me.
16 Nov 202317.42 GMT41 min: McGinn slides a cute pass down the right to release Patterson, who checks back to make some space, then swings a dangerous ball into the middle. There are no white shirts, sadly for Scotland, though Mamardashvili is confused by his own defender Kashia and bats the ball away in an unconvincing style. Again, there’s nobody in Scottish white to take advantage of the loose ball.
16 Nov 202317.40 GMT39 min: Kvaratskhelia is fine to continue. “I think it was on these very MBM pages that a reader dubbed Scott McTominay the Scottish Maradona (or something like that) for his recent crucial goal-getting exploits for his country. Well, McMaradominay is currently being shown up by Kvaradona! Will the real Maradona please stand up?” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the chakapuli.
16 Nov 202317.38 GMT38 min: Kvaratskhelia stays down holding his arm, having landed awkwardly. On comes the physio with some magic spray.
16 Nov 202317.38 GMT37 min: Christie is booked for sliding into the back of Kvaratskhelia. He can have no complaints.
16 Nov 202317.36 GMT35 min: Scotland come again, though. McGinn is in a lively mood and he dribbles down the right before swinging one into the mixer. Kverkvelia is forced to head over for a corner, from which … yep, nothing, again. An easy evening for Mamardashvili in the Georgia goal so far.
16 Nov 202317.34 GMT34 min: … nothing.
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