Just as Scotland’s World Cup hopes looked to have fizzed out – yet more late drama kept them alive and kicking on the road to Russia.
Scotland had failed to find a way past a well-organised Slovakia side that played 68 minutes of the match with 10 men.
With only two minutes remaining, Scotland got the breakthrough they richly deserved, with Slovakia defender Martin Skrtel diverting the ball past his outstanding goalkeeper Martin Dubravka under intense pressure from Scotland substitute Chris Martin.
The result means Scotland go into their final group match with their fate in their own hands – knowing a victory against Slovenia in Ljubljana on Sunday will secure second place, and most likely a spot in next month’s play-offs.
With little to separate the sides in the opening 22 minutes, Scotland could not have wished for a better gift than they received on 22 minutes, when Slovakia’s Robert Mak was shown a second yellow card for diving.
With no margin for error, this was plainly a match Scotland needed to win. Slovakia, who began the night a point ahead of the Scots in second place in Group F, end their campaign at home to bottom-placed Malta on Sunday. With three points virtually a formality, Scotland needed to establish a lead over their opponents ahead of Sunday’s final match in Slovenia.
All three changes in Strachan’s line-up came in the heart of midfield. Two were enforced, through the injury absence of Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong, whose influential role in the recent improvement left a sizeable void to fill. James McArthur also dropped to the bench, with James Morrison, Barry Bannan and stand-in skipper Darren Fletcher the men tasked with carrying the burden.
Scotland had shown huge improvement since their last meeting with Slovakia 12 months previously. There were only three survivors from the team that went down 3-0 in Trnava – Fletcher, Bannan and Kieran Tierney – with the possibility of the Scots being in charge of their own fate at this stage of the campaign seeming unfathomable after that dire night last October.
That was before an impressive revival in form, which brought 10 points out of a possible 12 going into last night’s match. Scotland, forced to wear their pink away shirt to avoid a colour clash, showed plenty appetite to attack in the early stages, with Tierney seeing an appeal for a penalty turned down by referee Milorad Mazic, following contact from Mak, who found his way into the book moments later for a crunching tackle on James Forrest.
Scotland kept up the pressure, and were somehow denied the opener on 19 minutes when Dubravka made a stunning save to claw Christophe Berra’s goalbound header away from goal.
Scotland’s cause was greatly aided by madness from the Slovaks, which handed the hosts the numerical advantage just 22 minutes in. Moments after both Juraj Kucka and Marek Hamsik were booked following an attempt to take a quick free-kick, midfielder Mak, who netted twice in the corresponding fixture last year, was shown a second yellow card within five minutes of his first, for a horrendous dive as he bore down on Craig Gordon. With no contact whatsoever, Serbian referee Mazic could not have made any other decision.
Scotland struggled to make the extra man count through the remainder of the first-half, and Slovakia could have taken the lead on 33 minutes when Stanislav Lobotka went through on goal after a one-two with Adam Nemec, before Tierney did enough to see the ball back to Gordon.
The hosts did force Dubravka to make another fine save on 36 minutes, denying Griffiths who was teed up for a low 20-yard strike by Forrest’s superb pass, but Scotland knew they needed to up the ante after the break.
There were glimpses, with Matt Phillips sidefooting Robertson’s cross over the bar, before Griffiths sent a free header straight at Dubravka from Tierney, but there was no sustained pressure.
Dubravka was called upon again just after the hour mark, tipping Griffiths’ 20-yard strike behind, before the crossbar denied substitute Chris Martin a spectacular goal from a similar distance moments later.
By this stage, Slovakia were under the cosh. Griffiths so nearly added yet another outstanding free-kick to his collection, with the crossbar again thwarting the hosts, before Morrison forced another excellent save from Dubravka, this time with an effort from point-blank range.
Just as Scotland’s hopes looked to have gone but another late twist saw them make the breakthrough, with Ikechi Anya’s delivery sent into his own net by Skrtel. Scotland’s play-off hopes will go down to the wire.
