Having impressively picked up four points from their first two qualifiers for the 2026 tournament against Denmark and Belarus without conceding, Scotland made a reasonable start in Glasgow.
Nonetheless, they will have been mightily relieved not to go 1-0 down in the eighth minute following a lovely exchange of passes between Christos Tzolis and captain Tasos Bakasetas, whose flashed cross was miscued horribly by Vangelis Pavlidis with effectively an open goal in front of him.
Scotland did grow into the contest as the first half wore on, albeit while creating very little, although they were resolute enough defensively that they limited Greece to few clear-cut opportunities.
Despite having watched their team trail 2-0 to these very opponents at half-time at Hampden in March in what was a disastrous UEFA Nations League play-off second leg, the Tartan Army were still unhappy to go in at the break on level terms here, booing Scotland off the pitch.
Their mood will not have improved when Pavlidis had another chance to put Greece ahead early in the second period, heading over Kostas Tsimikas’ inviting cross, with Georgios Masouras subsequently ruing his poor finishing after blasting over Angus Gunn’s crossbar from close range.
Scotland were forced into the first change of the match as Aaron Hickey’s injury woes continued, with Anthony Ralston taking his place. Billy Gilmour entered the field at the same time, with Ben Gannon-Doak making way, but the flow of the game remained the same.
It was therefore no surprise when they broke the deadlock just after the hour mark when they waltzed into the Scotland box, where Pavlidis’ effort was blocked by John Souttar, only for Tsimikas to follow up emphatically on the rebound and provoke more disgruntlement from the home support.
Unexpectedly, though, Scotland quickly equalised, breaking to win a corner that Ryan Christie delivered, before the Bournemouth midfielder followed in to capitalise on Konstantinos Mavropanos’ poor clearing header, although Greece goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis should have done better.
The equaliser survived a VAR check, and Hampden was buoyant all of a sudden, with the turnaround duly complete as another set-piece proved Greece’s undoing, with Scotland skipper Andrew Robertson’s free-kick eventually dropping for Lewis Ferguson to slam in.
The points were sealed in stoppage time, with Tzolakis making a horrible handling error unchallenged, which substitute Lyndon Dykes seized on to send the crowd wild.
Scotland may have failed to register four consecutive clean sheets in international football for the first time since March 2014, but they remain on Denmark’s tail in Group C, while Greece will be lamenting a major missed opportunity.
Flashscore Man of the Match: John Souttar (Scotland)
Key stats
- Scotland trailed for just two minutes and 16 seconds, with Ryan Christie equalising with what was Scotland's first shot on target. The Tartan Army scored with all three of their shots on target.
- Scotland are undefeated in their last three games in the UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, their last longer unbeaten streak was from 4th September 2021 to 15th November 2021, a run of six games.
- Kostas Tsimikas scored his first ever goal for Greece on what was his 44th appearance while Lewis Ferguson scored his first goal for Scotland on what was his 19th appearance for the nation.