SCOTLAND 6 SAN MARINO 0
THE rain poured down as the goals rained in on poor San Marino at Hampden tonight.
Ryan Christie pulled the strings as Celtic team-mates Callum McGregor and James Forrest revelled in the downpour at Hampden as the visitors clocked up their THIRTY-FOURTH successive defeat.
And Scotland thought they had problems!
By the end of a sodden evening in the south side of Glasgow, Steve Clarke celebrated his second win – the other came against Cyprus – in his six games in the campaign.
The San Marino keeper Aldo Simoncini is an accountant by profession which must come in handy for keeping the score. His country have now lost 43 goals in this qualifying campaign.
The veteran custodian conceded three goals in the first-half as John McGinn emerged as a goal machine with a hat-trick after waiting until last month to get his first for his country in the 2-1 loss against Russia.
And there was an action replay after the interval when the Scots helped themselves to another trio through Lawrence Shankland, Stuart Findlay and Stuart Armstrong.
The outcome of the Euro 2020 qualifier was of little consequence, but new boss Clarke knew his side had to produce following four dismal defeats.
He demanded a reaction and he got it from a willing bunch of players who camped in their opponents’ territory from the kick-off.
The rain was as relentless as they surged towards the unfortunate Simoncini.
Christie must have set a world record by taking every corner-kick as the count was veering towards 20 before the end.
Forrest was denied by two good saves by the keeper and McGregor eased his way through the encounter before being replaced by Armstrong with 20 minutes still to play.
Bring on Cyprus and Kazakhstan!
TEAM: McLaughlin; Palmer, Devlin, Findlay, Robertson; McTominay, McGinn (sub: Russell 70); Christie, McGregor (sub: Armstrong 70), Forrest; Shankland.
