Lyndon Dykes and Kenny McLean were the unlikely heroes as Scotland battled back from an almost certain loss to beat Norway 2-1 in Oslo.
An Erling Haaland penalty just after the hour mark looked set to put a two-game winning run to an end, with Steve Clarke's men having beaten Cyprus and Spain back in March to go top of the Euro 2024 qualifying group. It was a defensive performance which didn't allow for many chances, and with time running out, it seemed as though Scotland were doomed in Scandinavia.
But out of nowhere, Lyndon Dykes latched onto a defensive mistake to stab home from close range to send the Tartan Army berserk, equalising with just three minutes to go. It was thought that he would be the saviour - yet McLean went one better. Dykes nodded the ball on to John McGinn, whose cut back found the Australian-born star with his back to goal. He laid off McLean, who bent a shot into the far corner to put Scotland firmly in the driving seat and firmly on the way to Germany 2024. Edinburgh Live look at three talking points.
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Terrific Tierney
Kieran Tierney was incredible today. He caught all of the quick balls in behind, had the confidence and composure to play out from the back, and Erling Haaland was nullified.
Arsenal may contemplate selling him to free up funds for anywhere else on the pitch. Whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko is the go-to for Mikel Arteta, Tierney has shown that he isn't far off the Ukrainian.
Newcastle, should they sign him, will be getting an absolute steal if the £30million rumours are to be believed. Andy Robertson is the current captain, but Tierney is equally as much of a leader on the pitch. His constant exposure to playing people like Haaland week in, week out looks to be paying off.
Star duo largely halted
As good as Scotland's defence worked, chances were few and far between. Many may have asked why; how a team could go from beating Spain with relative comfortability to fashioning chances of such little frequency against Norway.
But the message was simple - do not give Erling Haaland any space to feed off. Martin Odegaard is good enough to play for Manchester City, and the amount of chances their star-studded midfield give the big Norwegian is frightening - so you have to nullify those two by flooding the area.
And Clarke's plan worked a treat, generally. Haaland didn't really have anything to work with, and Odegaard was not afforded the chance to supply his partner with any real chances of note.
Of course, it came at the expense of tactical freedom and a soft penalty changed that. But it paid dividends in such a dramatic ending.
Poor refereeing
There won't be any excuses from Scotland fans for the first 85 minutes. Norway have two world-class attacking stars, and Scotland weren't at their best today if truth be told. But the performance of referee Matej Jug was, quite simply astounding.
This isn't about the penalty call, but little increments of common sense that were lacking. Andy Robertson's throw-in and the foul on Aaron Hickey on the edge of the box both happened within about 30 seconds of each other - both decisions that were wrong. The only one he got right, to an extent, was the penalty decision.
Fortunately, it didn't matter one bit, so it will go largely unspoken of. But it was a performance that left a lot to be desired.
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