Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon was delighted to see history repeat itself after he saved a penalty to help Scotland book a World Cup play-off place.
Exactly a year to the day since David Marshall emerged as the hero in the Euro 2020 play-off penalty shoot-out, Gordon produced a spot kick masterclass of his own as he made a save from Vadim Rata to spare the Scots a nervous finale in the 2-0 win in Moldova.
Gordon told Sky Sports: “It’s the day for Scottish goalies to save penalties. It’s exactly a year ago today since Marsh saved the one in Serbia so it must be a good omen for Scottish goalies. I spoke to him earlier today about that and it was my turn tonight.
“It was a good performance. We dictated for large spells and thoroughly deserved the three points in the end.”
The win takes Scotland to 20 points from nine matches but they want to end their campaign with a flourish in the final game against group winners Denmark at Hampden on Monday.
Hearts goalkeeper Gordon said: “It’s a good points tally already at this stage, 20 points, but we have another game and we want to go more and then we’ll see what happens after that.
“We’re happy with the way the campaign has gone, we’ve put in some good performances and it is a good number of points to have.”
Nathan Patterson, meanwhile, is focused on completing the job and helping his country qualify for the 2022 World Cup after helping Scotland book a play-off place.
The Rangers defender opened his account for his country by scoring the opener in the win which ensures Scotland will finish runners-up in Group F.
Patterson said: “We’ve done well to get there now so hopefully we can go on to get the results we need and qualify for Qatar.
“It’s football. Things happen week by week and you need to take it in your stride. I’ve done it all my career and it has paid off.”
Patterson was delighted to score in such a key game, but was disappointed he will miss Monday’s final qualifier against Denmark at Hampden after being booked in Moldova.
He said: “It was a good team performance.
“We started off well and then fell off. We didn’t keep hold of the ball and weren’t winning second balls when we needed a bit of composure and link-up play.
“John (McGinn) and I have linked off well and I’ve gone through, kept my head and it has gone in, so I’m buzzing.
“We said if we would get an early goal it would settle us and then we could try and push for a second goal to kill it off and we managed to do that as well.
“The second goal did kill the game off. Again, it was John and I linking up and Che (Adams) managed to put it away.
“It’s disappointing to miss a match and it’s tough when you are out after two bookings, especially as a defender, but hopefully we can get a good result and look ahead to the play-offs.”
