Georgia 2-2 Scotland: Euro 2024 Qualifying – as It Happened | Euro 2024 Qualifying

No word from Steve Clarke, but no worries, because Ewan Murray’s report has landed. Here it is! Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.

Scott McTominay isn’t happy with Georgia, telling Viaplay: “They’ve got some really good footballers but tonight the way they were acting on the pitch was a disgrace in terms of provoking the referee and obviously us as players … it’s not the way it should go … anyway, that’s football and that’s sometimes how it goes … we just have to keep our heads but it’s difficult … they should do something about people pretending they’re injured when they’re not … rolling around crying like babies all afternoon is not football … they were provoking the referee a lot.”

Only two players have scored more goals for Scotland in a calendar year than Scott McTominay: Denis Law and Colin Stein. Here’s the list; not bad company he’s keeping, eh.

11: Denis Law (1963)
8: Colin Stein (1969)
7: Kenny Dalglish (1977), Steven Fletcher (2015), John McGinn (2019), Scott McTominay (2023)

Scotland’s goalscoring hero Lawrence Shankland talks to Viaplay. “There was quite a lot of pressure on their box at the time I came on … it was just about being in and around the goal and hopefully the chance would come … Stuart Armstrong has hung it up well … I’m just grateful to get the goal … it’s a difficult place to come … they’re a good team with good players … we can leave here pleased that we’ve got the point.”

Once again it was a fractious affair between these two teams. At least the coaches Willy Sagnol and Steve Clarke enjoy a friendly embrace. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was his usual brilliant self; Scotland rediscovered the grit that had already secured qualification to earn a draw and snap their three-game losing streak. They’ll feel much better now going into the final match of the group against Norway next week. Georgia travel to Spain, who have just won 3-1 in Cyprus and will now almost certainly win the group.

Scotland take something home from Tbilisi at last!

90 min +8: Zivzivadze shoots from a tight angle on the left. Clark is behind it all the way. That should be that.

90 min +7: Georgia stroke it around though not to any great end.

90 min +5: Armstrong is booked for a garden-variety tackle on Kochorashvili, who rolls about in his normal style. “It’s embarrassing,” Armstrong clearly sighs, gesticulating to the performance going on nearby.

90 min +4: That’s the least Scotland deserve for their efforts this evening. Can they go on to find a winner? Can they hold on for the draw?

Shankland wasn’t in the squad until Che Adams withdrew, and now look! Armstrong curls in from a deep position on the left. Shankland rises highest at the far stick and plants a header across Mamardashvili and into the net!

90 min +1: The resulting free kick comes to nothing. There will be seven added minutes.

90 min: McGinn dribbles into the Georgian box down the right. He whips a fierce shot-cum-cross through the six-yard box. Any connection and it’s in, but the ball flies over to the other side of the pitch. Ferguson retrieves it, only to be skelped at pace by Kvaratskhelia, who goes into the referee’s increasingly expansive notebook.

89 min: McGinn swings in from the right. Ferguson wins a header at the far stick, but can’t get any power on his effort. Easy for Mamardashvili, who flops to the floor in the name of clock management.

88 min: Davitashvili scythes through Ralston. Just a free kick. No idea how it’s not a yellow. McGinn’s delivery into the box isn’t all that, and Georgia continue to hold firm.

87 min: It’s attack versus defence, but there’s no way through for Scotland. Mamardashvili hasn’t had anything to do since Kvaratskhelia’s second, the save from Dykes apart. “This is the Scotland we know and love,” writes Simon McMahon. “The big difference being that we’re already Germany bound. Never has losing to a third-rate former Soviet republic felt so good.”

86 min: Dykes makes way for Shankland.

84 min: McLean crosses from the left but there’s nobody in the centre positioned to take advantage. Time running out for Scotland.

82 min: McTominay strides out of defence at speed. Kochorashvili chases and cynically clips him to the ground. It’s a yellow card all day long. Then he leans over his victim and cops a shove in the chest. He goes down holding his face. What a performance.

81 min: Armstrong’s first act is to pass the ball straight out of play. Scotland’s frustration is beginning to betray them.

79 min: … and then Scotland send on Ralston and Armstrong for Patterson and Taylor. Finally McTominay gets to take the free kick, and he blams it wildly over the bar.

78 min: … and then Georgia swap Chakvetadze and Lochoshvili for Kalandadze and Davitashvili.

77 min: Before the free kick can be taken, Lochoshvili goes down and takes his sweet time to get up again. Scotland are getting a bit frustrated by what they perceive to be playacting.

76 min: Ferguson, McGregor and McGinn ping the ball crisply down the inside-right channel. Kochorashvili comes across to skittle Ferguson to the ground, just to the right of the D. Free kick coming up.

74 min: Scotland do quite a lot of huffing and puffing. They’re seeing plenty of the ball, but are doing very little with it.

72 min: Shengelia goes down holding his shoulder and is replaced by Azarov.

70 min: A double change for Georgia, as Kvekveskiri and Mikautadze make way for Zivzivadze and Mekvabishvili.

68 min: McLean crosses from the left. Dykes knocks down for McTominay, who shapes like Zinedine Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final but doesn’t connect like him. The ball squirts across the face of goal and out for a goal kick. Ferguson tried to bundle the mishit ball goalwards but Kakabadze ushered him away from it.

67 min: McGinn nicks the ball off Lochoshvili’s toe on the edge of the D. The heist should set up a dangerous Scotland attack, with Dykes and Ferguson both in attendance, but the referee absurdly awards a free kick to Georgia.

65 min: McGregor crosses long from a deep position on the right. Ferguson attempts to win a header on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, but Mamardashvili rises high to pluck the ball off his neep.

63 min: Mikautadze and Kvaratskhelia bear down on the Scotland box. Ferguson and Porteous stand firm and ensure there’s no way through. This game has suddenly opened up entertainingly. More goals to come, surely.

61 min: Patterson and McLean combine to win a corner down the left. McTominay whips it to the near post. Dykes sends a powerful flicked header towards the top left, but Mamardashvili claws it out. So close to a second equaliser!

60 min: The resulting free kick is swung in from the left by McGinn. McLean flicks it on to nobody in particular. But Scotland win the ball back quickly and McGinn has a whack from distance. The ball deflects and loops high, then back down into the arms of Mamardashvili.

59 min: Kverkvelia is booked for an agricultural slide through the back of Ferguson.

58 min: Kvaratskhelia’s shot wasn’t tight in the corner, mind. A question mark over Clark. It wasn’t an appalling error, and the shot was hit fiercely, but the ball was within the keeper’s reach.