Scotland will face far sterner tests, namely on Tuesday when Spain visit Hampden Park. One also hopes supporters will be rewarded with a higher level of entertainment than was on offer during this turgid encounter with Cyprus.
Still, Steve Clarke will glean solace from that rare Scottish event of a winning start to a qualifying campaign. There was a clean sheet, too, for the debutant goalkeeper Angus Gunn. In truth, the Norwich City custodian had precious little to do before Andronikos Kakoullis fired a deflected shot into his gloves five minutes from time. One goal always looked like it would be enough for Scotland but the substitute Scott McTominay added gloss to the scoreline with two strikes in the dying embers of the game.
Clarke earlier and once again owed a debt of gratitude to John McGinn. The Aston Villa midfielder has now found the net 16 times under Clarke’s management, with his latest strike coming at the back post after Andy Robertson’s deflected cross found its way into his path.
Scotland laboured for long spells thereafter, not helped by a slippy playing surface. There was concern, too, as Che Adams limped from proceedings 13 minutes into the second half. He appeared to injure his calf, which renders him a major doubt for Tuesday.
Adams’s replacement, Lyndon Dykes, cushioned the ball into McTominay’s path for Scotland’s second goal. Ryan Christie, who added much-needed energy from the bench, looped in a cross which Dykes skilfully controlled before finding McTominay and the Manchester United man fired into the roof of the net.
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McTominay doubled his tally after Robertson pounced on a blocked Christie cross before squaring the ball. The visitors’ afternoon took a further turn for the worse as Nicholas Ioannou received a second booking for booting the ball away in stoppage time.
