Scotland player ratings vs Belarus: Hibs star makes home debut as Tartan Army made to sweat in nerve-shredding win

Scotland produced a laboured performance in front of a disgruntled Hampden crowd as they limped to a 2-1 victory over Belarus to move top of their World Cup qualifying group with two games remaining.

With fans expecting Clarke’s side to hit the goals trail against a nation ranked 100th in the world, it proved to be the exact opposite on a night that saw the hosts retreat into their shell and cling on to maximum points.

To put it mildly, this was huge. Scotland knew a victory over the Group C bottom seeds would move them tantalisingly close to rubber-stamping a place at next summer’s World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.

With Denmark hosting a Greek side who knew that another defeat would end any faint hopes of securing a play-off later this evening, another nail-biting 90 minutes was in store.

While the performance against Greece on Thursday night was far from vintage, the comeback was spectacular and meant the Scots had built up some strong momentum from their start to the campaign.

They faced a Belarusian outfit in turmoil after their 6-0 pasting at the hands of the Danes just three days earlier in neutral Hungary, taking their goal difference to -13 after just three games.

In what his record-breaking 72st match in charge of the national team, head coach Steve Clarke made five changes to his starting line-up amid a flurry of suspensions and injury, with Anthony Ralston, Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna, Kenny McLean and Billy Gilmour all in.

However, there was still a disconcerting lull about this match - at least among the Tartan Army. In years gone by, this was the type of fixture and stuffy lowly-ranked opponent that Scotland would make extremely hard work of. Cast your mind back to October 2005 and Belarus’ previous visit to Mount Florida - a wretched 1-0 loss.

Times have changed since then and on last month’s evidence the former Soviet Union nation lacked sufficient quality to trouble Clarke’s men. The question remained, though, could Scotland take care of business, and do so in convincing style?

The early signs were ominous as German Barkovski sprung the offside trap and latched onto a long ball before flashing a dangerous ball across the face of goal. Thankfully, from a Scottish perspective there were no takers.

Minutes later a powerful Pavel Zabelin header from a corner skimmed the top of Angus Gunn’s crossbar. The warning signs were there. Scotland were too lethargic in their build-up play and you could sense a growing nervousness among the crowd.

That was until the 15th minute when Che Adams drilled an instinctive low finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box only for the linesman to flag for offside. However, TV replays confirmed right-back Vadim Pigas’ trailing leg had played the Torino striker on.

That moment relieved much of the tension felt in the stands. And with Group C expected to go right down to the wire, the more goals Scotland could rack up, the better.

Whether that outcome was achievable based on a largely unforgettable opening 45 minutes was a different matter. Another rousing rendition of ‘Flower of Scotland’ rang out as supporters tried to urge Clarke’s men forward in pursuit of more attacking prowess.

And it almost worked a treat as Ben Gannon-Doak scampered down the right flank after getting the break of the ball. He raced into the box unchallenged and fired a low effort on the angle straight at visiting keeper Fedor Lapoukhov, who got down sharply to turn it behind for a corner.

Clarke’s message to his players at the interval will have been to be more adventurous in the final third. They came flying out the traps with Scott McTominay trying his luck from distance and forcing Lapoukhov into a routine save.

The CSKA Sofia No.1 was called into action again moments later when John McGinn - on his 81st cap which saw him move ahead of Darren Fletcher and level with Craig Gordon to leave him sitting in the top five all-time appearance list - managed to get a shot away from just inside the box.

Scotland had loud appeals for a penalty waved away after 58 minutes. Adams tangled with Yegor Parkhomenko on the edge of the box with the ball appearing brush off Adams’ arm before clipping the defender’s hand in the process. Following a lengthy wait, referee Marian Barbu was eventually called across to the VAR monitor before penalising the Scotland ace and awarding the visitors a free-kick.

That moment of contention was quickly followed by another. McTominay was left appealing for a foul as Belarus broke away down the left-hand side, with a low delivery finding Evgeni Malashevich who slotted past Gunn from close range. This time, VAR came to Scotland’s rescue.

Clarke turned to his best in a bid to shore up the defensive line with Kieran Tierney and John Souttar taking over from Ralston and Hendry. This was far from pretty.

The hosts were denied a second goal with 20 minutes remaining. Gannon-Doak picked out an unmarked Adams who turn the ball into the net, but via the use of his arm. It didn’t matter, though as he had also strayed offside.

Clarke and his players finally gave themselves a bit of breathing room with seven minutes left of regulation time. McGinn did well to keep the ball alive down the left side and spark an attack which ended with Andy Robertson’s cross being chested down by McTominay before steering low into the net in a crowded penalty area.

The man who has so often been Scotland’s saviour in recent years had delivered a vital two goal cushion. And more importantly, a nerve settler.

Hibs striker Kieron Bowie was handed his competitive debut as a late replacement for Gannon-Doak and looked lively during a brief cameo - building on a late friendly outing against Liechtenstein in June.

But things quickly started to unravel in stoppage time as Belarus capitalised on some poor defending and were handed a lifeline in the 96th minute. Substitute Nikita Korzun’s cross found fellow replacement Hleb Kuchko who peeled away from his marker and guided the ball past Gunn.

It was backs-to-the-wall stuff as Scotland clung on for dear life to move top of the four-team section, albeit for a short while, as a smattering of boos greeted the full-time whistle.

Another game that won't live long in the memory. But matter not. Four games down, two to go on the road to the United States, Canada and Mexico. Write this squad of players off at your peril.

Here’s how the Edinburgh Evening News rated the players: