Scotland player ratings against Greece as ex-Hearts defender stars in hard-fought 1-0 away win

Scott McTominay’s first-half penalty was enough to seal a hard-fought 1-0 win against Greece in the first leg of the League A play-off.

Head coach Steve Clarke stuck with the back four that had worked so well for Scotland at the tail end of the Nations League campaign, and that call proved to be an astute choice with the midfield’s tenacity and defensive nous helping seal a shutout. Ex-Hearts centre-back John Souttar, who has been outstanding for Rangers since returning from injury, was a rock at the back alongside the much-maligned Grant Hanley.

In what was billed as a powderkeg clash - the opening period of the tie didn’t really have much jeopardy. And that was down to a solid, confident start from Scotland. The early stages looked promising despite the lack of a finishing touch. Defensively, Scotland were solid.

The first big moment for the visitors fell to the man you’d want it to - with McTominay getting on the end of a corner kick that caused confusion in the Greek’s box. He was on the deck when he attemped to steer the ball home but he could only send the ball wide of target.

Soon after that, the Napoli midfielder would get another chance to open the scoring. On the half hour mark, Scotland’s talisman drove forward and was clipped by Lazaros Rota. It was of the soft variety, that’s for sure. But McTominay wasn’t bothered about that, and he confidently collected the ball and sent Konstantinos Tzolakis the wrong way.

Having taken the lead, Scotland grew further in confidence and they could have added to goal advantage before the break.

The visitors had a short flurry - with Fotis Ioannidis’ header close - but the visitors gave as good as they got. Billy Gilmour should have done better with a shot one-on-one while Che Adams missed a great chance. He had time to pick his spot in the box but he tried to catch the goalkeeper out early.

The second half was a different story. Genk teen Kostas Karetsas came on and he galvanised his side. Konstantinos Karetsas saw a bicycle kick fly wide while Christos Tzolis thought he had levelled six minutes into the second half - but the ball had gone out of play during the build-up.

Scotland were suffering at this point, but the likes of former Hibs hero John McGinn dug deep and defended deep. Karetsas was causing all sorts of trouble and he sent an effort just wide of target after cutting inside. On the hour mark, Konstantinos Mavropanos headed just over from a few yards out as an equaliser edged closer. Christos Tzolis’ effort off the post somehow didn’t go in.

But Clarke’s side eventually regained a base to build from after absorbing waves of pressure. McGinn had a rare chance up the other end, firing just over from 25-yards-out. Chances up the other end were few and far between, and the likes of debutant George Hirst had little to work on.

However, despite a final onslaught from the Greeks - which included surviving an initial penalty call when VAR confirmed a Grant Hanley tackle was outside the area - Scotland secured a superb clean sheet and victory to take back to Hampden Park.

Greece will wonder how they didn’t score in the second half. Scotland showed just how far they have come since the start of the League A campaign. Once again, this was another away performance full of guile and sheer work-rate.

Here’s how the Edinburgh Evening News rated the Scotland players.