Scotland 2 (Boyd 10, Beattie 88) Georgia 1 (Arveladze 40)
Attendance 50,850
There can be little doubt that the Scots rode their
luck against technically superior opponents in front
of a capacity 50,850 audience in Mount Florida.
The new Scotland Manager fielded three Rangers players
in his starting line-up, namely Captain Barry
Ferguson, David Weir and Kris Boyd against a Georgian
side that included two former Ibrox men, Zurab
Khizanishvili and Shota Arveladze now with Blackburn
Rovers and AZ Alkmaar respectively.
Arveladze sadly would be he target of abuse from the
racist bigots amongst the 'Tartan Army', booed every
time he touched the ball.
The Scots got off to a dream start in ten minutes when
Boyd headed home a Gary Teale cross.
Eight minutes later it should have been 2-0 when Lee
McCulloch's shot broke into the path of the unmarked
and clear - but NOT offside - Teale who fatally
hesitated before seeing his shot blocked by visiting
goalkeeper George Lomaia.
It was by no means all one-way traffic however - Craig
Gordon having to look lively in twenty minutes when he
beat out a wide-angled twenty-yard free-kick from
Giorgi Demetradze.
Kenny Miller had a golden opportunity to make it two
three minutes later when he was clean through on a
McCulloch pass only to shoot straight at Lomaia.
The Georgians were coming more and more into the game
however - Khizanishvili's header from a Demetradze
corner hitting the crossbar on the half-hour mark,
then from Vladimer Burduli's corner from the other
side the ball found the unmarked Demetradze at the far
post, his volley being beaten away by Gordon.
Miller again should have given the Scots a two-goal
lead in 39 minutes when he was clean through on a Boyd
flick only to shoot straight at Lomaia.
That miss was to prove costly for sixty seconds later
the scores were level when Arveladze of all people
provided the boo-boys with the perfect answer when he
headed home the equaliser from a Giorgi Demetradze
cross.
There can be no doubt that the Georgians deserved
their equaliser - accomplished and skillful on the
ball, they were controlling the play with Demetradze,
based in the Ukraine with Metalurh Donetsk the
outstanding player afield.
Scotland had lost their earlier dominance - and it
would be the hour-mark before the home side created
another chance, the hapless Miller seeing his shot
from a McCulloch opening beaten away by Lomaia.
Scott Brown replaced Gary Teale on the hour, and the
Hibernian midfielder- strongly linked with a summer
move to Ibrox - would provide drive and running power
in the home midfield.
It was an open, end-to-end game with both sides
striving for a second goal - Levan Tskitishvili almost
providing it for Georgia when he burst through the
heart of the Scots defence on a solo run in 68 minutes
before shooting wide.
Two minutes later at the other end Boyd hit the
crossbar with a shot from a Miller flick.
If the Rangers striker was out of luck on that
occasion then he should have burst the net sixty
seconds later when he completely missed his kick in
front of goal from a Gary Naismith cross.
Time was running out on Scotland, for whom a failure
to secure three points from this fixture would mean a
near-fatal blow to dreams of qualification for EURO
2008 - but just when all hope was drifting away
substitute Craig Beattie scrambled the ball home from
a Naismith header to provide the Scots with a crucial
three points.
Afterwards a relieved Alex McLeish summarised:
"This was an important game - three points was the
target. We could have been three up
in the first-half but Georgia have quality in their
team. This gives us a tremendous boost
for Italy."
Georgian Coach Klaus Toppmoller, who suffered defeat
at Hampden five years ago with
Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions' League Final, was
frustrated as he reflected:
"The game could have gone either way. Scotland began
strongly, but we controlled the
game and deserved our equaliser.We were technically
superior, but weakness in the air
cost us, as it did against Ukraine. Scotland are very
strong, but France and Italy play
football - they don't play long balls."
SCOTLAND Gordon (Hearts); Alexander (Preston North
End), Naismith (Everton); Weir (Rangers), McManus
(Celtic), Ferguson (Rangers); Teale (Derby County)
[Brown (Hibernian) 60], Hartley (Celtic), Miller
(Celtic) [Maloney (Aston Villa) 89], Boyd (Rangers)
[Beattie (Celtic) 75], McCulloch (Wigan Athletic)
UNUSED SUBS McGregor (Rangers), Murty (Reading),
Dailly (West Ham United), Severin (Aberdeen)
GEORGIA Lomaia (Carl Zeiss Jena); Shashiasvili (Dinamo
Tbilisi), Salukvadze (Rubin Kazan), Khizanishvili
(Blackburn Rovers), Eliava (Skonto Riga); Burduli
(Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih) [Siradze (Erzgebirge Aue) 56],
Menteshashvili (Shinnik Yaroslavl) [Gogua (Saturn
Moskovskaya Oblast) 45], Tskitishvili (Panionios)
[Mujiri (Krylya Sovetov Samura) 89], Kobiashvili
(Schalke 04); Demetradze (Metalurh Donetsk), Arveladze
(AZ Alkmaar)
UNUSED SUBS Revishvili (Rubin Kazan), Kvirkvelia
(Metalurh Zaporizhzhya), Iashvili (Freiburg), Ashvetia
(Carl Zeiss Jena)
REFEREE Nicolai Vollquartz (Denmark)