with a 3-1 win over Lithuania at Hampden this
afternoon, two late goals from Stephen McManus and
substitute Jamie McFadden deciding the issue.
Manager Alex McLeish fielded four Rangers players in
his starting line-up, namely Alan Hutton, David Weir,
Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd against a visitors side
that included two Hearts players, namely Delvidas
Cesnaukis and Andrius Velicka.
A full-house in Mount Florida saw the Scots pressing
from the opening whistle - and Darren Fletcher's 18th
minute corner saw headers from both Boyd and McCulloch
denied by goalkeeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas.
The opening goal duly arrived on the half-hour mark
however - a quickly-taken Darren Fletcher free-kick
being headed home by Boyd.
Five minutes later Boyd again was on the end of a Gary
Teale cross only for Karcemarskas to parry his effort.
It was all Scotland - with Boyd the main danger - and
again in 39 minutes his shot from a McCulloch pass was
blocked by the Lithuanian goalkeeper.
A one-goal interval lead was scant reward for the home
side's first-half dominance, and an outrageous
decision by Slovenian Referee Damir Skomina in 59
minutes turned the game on its' head when Lithuanian
substitute Saulius Mikoliunas of Hearts blatantly
dived when tussling for the ball with Fletcher.
It was a clear example of cheating - obviously drilled
into the player at Tynecastle - but nevertheless
captain Tomas Danilevicius converted the resultant
spot-kick.
Mikoliunas was roundly booed by the 51,349 Hampden
audience thereafter - but Scotland now had the game to
win all over again.
McFadden replaced Gary Teale in 68 minutes, and
immediately thereafter a Fletcher free-kick found
Stephen McManus whose header was clawed away by
Karcemarskas.
A hint of desperation was creeping into the Scots'
play, but to immense relief McManus made it 2-1 in 76
minutes when he netted at the far post from substitute
Shaun Maloney's cross.
Six minutes later it was 3-1 when McFadden cut in from
the right on a Boyd lay-off before despatching the
ball into the net from twenty yards.
It was Scotland's day, and afterwards Alex McLeish
summarised:
"I'm very pleased with the result. We can play better,
but are in a good position that no-one would have
predicted. I included Kris Boyd in the team because of
his goal threat. It was never a penalty - there was a
big suggestion of simulation at the award."
So now it's on to Paris - and the ultimate test of
Scotland's EURO 2008 dreams.
SCOTLAND Gordon (Sunderland); Hutton (Rangers),
McEveley (Derby County); McManus (Celtic), Weir
(Rangers), Brown (Celtic); Fletcher (Manchester
United), McCulloch (Rangers) [Maloney (Aston Villa
75], Boyd (Rangers), O'Connor (Birmingham City)
[Beattie (West Bromwich Albion) 75], Teale (Derby
County) [McFadden (Everton) 68]
UNUSED SUBS McGregor (Rangers), Alexander (Burnley),
Hartley (Celtic), Caldwell (Celtic)
LITHUANIA Karcemarskas (Dinamo Moscow); Stankevicius
(Brescia) [Jankauskas (AEK Larnaca) 54], Skerla
(Vetra), Zvirgzdauskas (Halmstads), Kilmavicius
(Dinamo Moscow); Cesnauskis (Hearts), Semberas (CSKA
Moscow), Kalonas (Kuban Krasnodar), Morinus (Zalgiris
Vilnius) [Mikoliunas (Hearts) 45]; Velicka (Hearts)
[Ksanavicius (Hearts) 45], Danilevicius (Bologna )
UNUSED SUBS Grybauskas (Otelul Galati), Beniusis
(Hearts), Paulauskas (Ekranas), Zelmikas (Tavria
Simferopol)
REFEREE Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
Attendance 51,349