Northern Ireland get the ball rolling but Scottish comeback undone
Catch up on the action below:
Scotland 2-3 Poland
Nicola Zalewski scored a 97th minute penalty as Poland broke Scotland hearts, staving off a two-goal comeback from the hosts to run out 3-2 winners in a UEFA Nations League (UNL) thriller at Hampden Park.
Having both failed to impress at Euro 2024, both Scotland and Poland were looking to get off on the right foot in their opening UNL fixture.
With the Tartan Army backing them, the Scots started on the front foot as Steve Clarke’s decision to abandon his five-at-the-back formation for a more offensive minded 4-2-3-1 seemed to give his side an extra spark.
But that decision came at a price, as the usually sturdy Scots found themselves behind within eight minutes.
Sebastian Szymański let fly from 25 yards, with his spectacular effort beating Angus Gunn and bouncing in off the post to give Poland an early lead.
Going behind didn’t deter the hosts as they continued to push forward, but when they finally got into the box, talisman Scott McTominay could only send his shot flying into the crowd.
The Napoli man then thought he had equalised moments after, but his strike was ruled out as the ball had hit his hand just before he poked past Marcin Bułka.
Having survived that scare, Poland delivered another sucker punch to ensure they took a two-goal lead into the break.
Anthony Ralston’s careless tackle in the box allowed Robert Lewandowski the chance to convert a penalty, and the veteran striker made no mistake, calmly stroking the ball past Gunn.
There was no time to waste for Scotland after the restart, and the home fans got exactly what they wanted as they reduced the arrears inside the first minute of the second half.
Having twice failed to clear the danger, Poland were punished by Billy Gilmour who pounced on the loose ball and drove home a goal that reignited the Tartan Army.
That opened the contest up, and with momentum behind them, it was the Scots who struck the game’s fourth goal.
Ben Doak played Ralston down to the byline, with the Celtic full-back pulling his pass across the six-yard box where McTominay was waiting to slot home for his 10th Scotland goal and level the contest.
Just as it looked like the game was heading for a draw, Poland received another penalty at the death after Grant Hanley committed a similarly reckless foul to Ralston.
Zalewski stepped up and sneaked the ball under Gunn to give Poland all three points in their opening game in the UNL, while Steve Clarke’s men suffer another setback after once again being undone by a late goal.
Northern Ireland 2-0 Luxembourg
Northern Ireland got their UNL campaign off to a flying start with a 2-0 win over Luxembourg, securing their first-ever UNL home clean sheet in the process.
With one win from 16 Nations League games prior to tonight, Northern Ireland must’ve been dreading the return of UEFA’s newest international competition tonight.
But the way they started showed they weren’t bearing any psychological scars.
A barrage of Green and White Army attacks ensued as soon as the referee blew his opening whistle, and that eventually bore fruits for the hosts when Luxembourg could only half clear a corner and Paddy McNair reacted quickest to steer home the loose ball.
Not even 20 minutes were on the clock when they incredibly doubled their advantage.
It was another set piece at the heart of their success - this time a training ground routine - as Dan Ballard outsmarted the Luxembourg defence to steer home George Saville’s near post free-kick.
That seemed to be a wake-up call for the Red Lions, who worked their way into the game a little after that, but as you’d expect of FIFA’s #84 ranked side, creating goal scoring opportunities against superior opposition was proving problematic.
And even when they did carve one out, Leandro Barreiro could only fire over from the edge of the area.
Michael O’Neill’s side kept their foot to the floor after the break and ought to have extended their lead shortly after the hour mark when Conor Bradley strode through on goal, but in true full-back style, could only skew his effort wide of the target.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell was largely untroubled throughout, but a rush of blood to the head in which he flew out of the goal and saw his miscued clearance land at the feet of Mathias Olesen almost proved his undoing.
Fortunately for him, the Luxembourg frontman could only curl an effort wide from all of 40 yards.
An experimental O’Neill tinkered with different systems in the closing stages, but his changes didn’t stem Northern Ireland’s flow and they were comfortable in seeing out only their second-ever UNL victory.
That seemingly leaves them well placed as they bid to return to League B, but it’s a disappointing start for Luxembourg, who lost their first away game having gone through the entirety of their last UNL campaign without being defeated on the road.
