Faroe Islands 0
Attendance 50,059
There was a healthy attendance of 50,000 present to witness the Scots' biggest win since 1977 (6-0 Finland) – indeed with five goals inside the opening forty minutes many were predicting a record score
The home side were on the attack from the opening minutes with Paul Hartley's 25-yard shot whistling just wide in four minutes.
Two minutes later the opener duly arrived when Darren Fletcher netted from a Nigel Quashie cutback.
No sooner had the tumult quietened down than it was 2-0 when Jamie McFadden netted with a twenty-yard grounder from a Kenny Miller pass.
This had all the makings of a rout – Kris Boyd making it 3-0 from the penalty spot after McFadden had been upended by Jakup Borg in 23 minutes.
If that was a soft award, there was no doubt about a second penalty six minutes later when Fletcher was fouled by Atli Danielsen. On this occasion Miller converted the spot-kick.
4-0 ahead, Scotland looked like scoring with every attack – Fletcher blasting the ball straight at goalkeeper Jakup Mikkelsen from a Miller cross in 36 minutes, but within sixty seconds it was five when Boyd netted at the second attempt from a Fletcher pass.
The second-half was to prove an anti-climax. McFadden's twenty-yard free-kick was fisted clear by Mikkelsen in 58 minutes, and at the other end twelve minutes later the Islanders had their first effort on target when Danielsen's 25-yard free-kick was touched over by Craig Gordon.
Substitute Garry O'Connor, in search of his first international goal, came close when his shot from the edge of the box whistled over following a McFadden / Quashie one-two in 75 minutes.
Four minutes later Boyd saw his header from a Christian Dailly cross turned wide by Mikkelsen, thus denying him the honour of being the first Scotland player to net a hat-trick since Colin Stein against Cyprus in 1969.
Mikkelsen again denied the Scots in 80 minutes, turning behind McFadden's eighteen-yard drive following a one-two with O'Connor.
Five minutes later it was the Moscow-based striker who made it 6-0 when he flicked home a McFadden cross.
Afterwards a contented Walter Smith summarised:
“We set about the game the right way in the first-half. It's pleasing to score so many goals – it keeps the confidence going.”
SCOTLAND Gordon (Hearts); Dailly (West Ham United), Naysmith (Everton); Pressley (Hearts), Weir (Everton), Quashie (West Bromwich Albion) [Severin (Aberdeen) 84], Fletcher (Manchester United) [Teale (Wigan Athletic) 45}, Hartley (Hearts), Miller (Celtic) [O'Connor 60 (Lokomotiv Moscow)]), Boyd (Rangers), McFadden (Everton)
UNUSED SUBS N. Alexander (Cardiff City), G. Alexander (Preston North End), Anderson (Aberdeen), Caldwell (Celtic)
FAROE ISLANDS Mikkelsen (B36 Torshavn); Borg (HB Torshavn), Danielsen (KI Klaksvik), Johannesen (TB Tvoroyri), Benjaminsen (B36 Torshavn); Johnsson (B 68 Toftir) [S. Samuelsen (Keflavik) 75)], Hansen (Skala), R. Jacobsen (HB Torshavn) [Nielsen (B6 Torshavn) 83], Joensen (HB Torshavn); C. Jacobsen (NSI Runavik), Frederiksberg (Skala) [Thorleifsson (B 36 Torshavn) 59]
UNUSED SUBS Joensen (KI Klaksvik), Jorgensen (Coventry City), H. Samuelsen (EB/Streymur), Mortensen HB Torshavn)
REFEREE Igor Egorov (Russia)