UEFA Nations League
Scotland 3-0 Ukraine
Wednesday, 21 September 2022
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Scorers
Scotland 3 (John McGinn 70', Lyndon Dykes 79', 86')
Ukraine 0
Team News
The starting 11 consisted of only five players that started the previous game against Ukraine at the start of June with Craig Gordon, Scott McTominay, Callum McGregor, John McGinn and Ché Adams retaining their places
With Andy Robertson missing from the squad due to injury, John McGinn wore the captains armband. Kieran Tierney returned to the squad having missed the last round of international fixtures.
As It Happened
A night under the lights at Hampden Park, the Tartan Army belted out Flower of Scotland before getting the proceedings underway – decked out in their new home kit.
Scotland had their first big chance of the game with ten minutes on the clock when Kieran Tierney played the ball to Ché Adams wide on the left; he made his way past the Ukraine defender and into the box however his effort was denied low by Anatoily Trubin, the Ukrainian goalkeeper.
Scotland created two more great chances in quick succession with the first chance coming from a Ryan Christie cross into the six yard box however no one was there to meet it and the second saw Nathan Patterson have a shot at the edge of the box however the effort from the right back was deflected out for a Scotland corner.
In the 21st minute, Scotland came close to taking the lead again when John McGinn had an effort on goal just inside the box which was denied by the Ukraine goalkeeper and Ryan Christies’ attempt at the rebound went wide of goal as the attacker was slightly off balance when hitting his attempt.
A minute before half time, Ché Adams drove towards goal before being taken out by Valeriy Bondar, a foul which saw the Ukraine defender receive a yellow card from the referee.
Scotland started the second half strong and created a number of great chances. Stuart Armstrong saw his effort saved by the Ukraine goalkeeper before having another effort a few minutes later that went over the crossbar. John McGinn played two great crosses into the box which both met the head of Ché Adams however the striker's attempts were denied by the crossbar and a low save from the Ukraine goalkeeper.
Scotland got their well deserved opener in the 70th minute when Kieran Tierney’s deflected pass fell at the feet of super John McGinn who controlled the ball before clinically finishing into the bottom right hand corner, with the Hampden Park crowd erupting.
In the 79th minute, a link up between the two Scotland substitutes gave Scotland a two goal lead – Ryan Fraser played a corner into the box and Lyndon Dykes rose above everyone else to get his head on the ball and head across into the bottom right corner.
Come minute 87, Scotland scored an almost identical goal to the second; Ryan Fraser once again played a corner into the box and Lyndon Dykes rose again to header in his second of the game and Scotland's third.
A goal from captain John McGinn and a brace from substitute Lyndon Dykes saw Scotland beat Ukraine 3-0 to take all three points.
Next Up
The Scots welcome the Republic of Ireland to a sold-out Hampden on Saturday 24 September for the final home game in the UEFA Nations League group stages.
Teams
Scotland: Gordon, Patterson (Hickey 25'), McTominay, Tierney (Taylor 84'), McGinn, McGregor, Adams (Dykes 75'), Christie (McLean 84'), Hendry, McKenna, Armstrong (Fraser 75')
Unused Substitutes: Kelly, McCrorie, Porteous, Gilmour, Ralston, Jack
Ukraine: Trubin, Bondar, Mykhaylichenko, Stepanenko (Sydorchuk 45), Yarmolenko (Tsygankov 66'), Malinovskyi, Mudryk (Ihnatenko 82'), Dovbyk, (Yaremchuck 66'), Pikhalonok (Zubkov 82'), Karavaev, Matviyenko
Unused Substitutes: Lunin, Riznyk, Kryvtsov, Kacharaba, Mykolenko, Tymchyk