Poland celebrate scoring against Scotland at HampdenSNS

Poland punished Scottish errors to seal victory in Glasgow

Andy Campbell
BBC Scotland

Scotland's miserable 2024 continued in agonising fashion as Poland were gifted a stoppage-time penalty to quell a valiant Nations League comeback at Hampden.

Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay had scored second-half goals for the revived Scots to counter Sebastian Szymanski's long-range effort and Robert Lewandowski's perfectly executed spot-kick for the visitors.

However, as Steve Clarke's side pushed for a winner, Nicola Zalewski was the victim of a rash challenge by Grant Hanley and the Pole - who also won the earlier penalty - picked himself up to score the 97th-minute winner.

Scotland, who meekly exited this summer's Euros with one point from three group games, now must travel to face Portugal on Sunday with a record of just one win in 13 and five defeats in 2024.

Scotland's impressive comeback goes to waste

How this game ended in the manner it did beggars belief. And not only because Scotland seemed a defeated team after a frustrating first half.

Clarke's side played with much more intent than they had in Germany but lost two poor goals to trail.

First, Szymanski was not closed down quickly enough by Scott McKenna as he lined up a 30-yarder that bounced off a post and past Angus Gunn.

Scotland then looked suspect again as Zalewski drove into the box and was felled by a clumsy Anthony Ralston challenge.

Veteran Lewandowski's conversion was confident and classy as he sent Gunn the wrong way.

In between those goals, Andy Robertson's free-kick was bundled in by McTominay but the Napoli midfielder was judged by the VAR officials to have handled.

And Ryan Christie's delivery from the left found Lyndon Dykes, but his effort found the side netting, when shooting across goal may have been more profitable.

Scotland needed to respond early in the second half and respond they did. John McGinn forced the ball into a dangerous area and Christie set up Gilmour to strike.

That got the home fans back onside but hearts were in mouths when Szymanski sent another long-range effort inches wide.

McTominay continued to be Scotland's main threat and he timed his run superbly to tap home Ralston's low centre.

Roared on by the Hampden crowd, Clarke's men looked the most likely to win.

However, McGinn conceded possession in his own half in the preamble to Zalewski's run into the box and Hanley led with the wrong foot as he fouled the forward near the bye-line.

Gunn guessed correctly but could not keep the Pole's penalty out and Scotland were consigned to another defeat.

SNS

Nicola Zalewski (left) won two penalties and scored the decisive one

Familiar problems haunt Clarke's side

Clarke, without Celtic captain Callum McGregor after his international retirement, elected not to give starts to six uncapped players, but Ryan Gauld and teenager Ben Doak did appear as substitutes.

Even without injured Kieran Tierney, the XI was along familiar lines, though in a 4-3-3 rather than a 3-5-2.

The formation certainly gave Scotland more of an attacking look compared with the defeat by Hungary that ended their Euros campaign.

Gilmour and McTominay getting into advanced positions for their respective second and 10th international goals was emblematic of that.

But defensively Scotland's problems persist. They have conceded 17 times in eight outings this year - more than two goals a game.

Poland also had a disappointing Euro 2024 but their undoubted quality was obvious to see on Glasgow's south side, including to a vocal throng of visiting fans.

What they said

Scotland 'lost game we shouldn't have lost'

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke: "I'm disappointed to lose a game like that, a game we shouldn't lose. But if you make errors at this level you get punished.

"There were lots of good things but it's still a defeat. Everyone is disappointed. We lost a game we shouldn't have lost.

"It's not about picking out individuals, I never do that and I'm not going to start now. We win as a team, we lose as a team. We'll analyse the game and speak in camp."

Scotland midfielder Billy Gilmour: "We showed in good spells what we’ve been building on, but tonight we’re disappointed going down to a defeat. We know what we’re capable of and we need to believe a bit more.

"Over the years we’ve been getting better and better. Tonight’s disappointing but I think for spells we controlled the game, we got ourselves back into it, but we’ll look at it as a team and see where we can better.’’

Scotland forward Lyndon Dykes: "We thought we were the better team, but it's frustrating the way it went. You can’t be conceding that many goals.

"There’s been a few changes on the training pitch. We’ve been working on a lot of things. I think you could see we were trying to press high and be the dominant team on the ball and make chances. We did all that, it just wasn’t our night.

"We need to go back to basics. We know what we are capable of and we need to stick together because we are a family, and I’m sure the results will come again."

Match stats

SNS

  • Scotland are without a win in their past five home games (D2 L3), their longest run since November 2008 (D3 L2).

  • Billy Gilmour scored his second international goal and first since October 2023 against France. It’s the first time Scotland have scored a minute after half-time since Christian Dailly against Lithuania in September 2006.

  • Scott McTominay has scored 10 Scotland goals, with nine of them in his past 16 appearances. He has six goals in his past seven games at Hampden.

  • Robert Lewandowski has been involved in 10 goals in his past 10 starts for Poland (6 goals, 4 assists).

  • Since the inception of the Nations League in 2018, only Kevin De Bruyne and Marco Asensio (both 7) have more assists than Poland's Robert Lewandowski (6).

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