Armenia vs Scotland. UEFA Nations League Group B1.
Hanrapetakan StadiumAttendance13,500.
Match report as Scotland fight back to defeat nine-man Armenia in Yerevan; Stuart Armstrong scores two first-half goals to cancel out Vahan Bichakhchyan's sixth-minute opener; John McGinn and Che Adams were on target early in the second half
Wednesday 15 June 2022 09:11, UK
Scotland returned to winning ways in the Nations League after the debacle against the Republic of Ireland as Stuart Armstrong scored twice in a convincing 4-1 win over nine-man Armenia in Yerevan.
Scotland fell behind early on in and endured some anxious moments after Armstrong's quickfire equaliser.
But the midfielder netted in first-half stoppage time, moments after Arman Hovhannisyan had committed two yellow-card offences in the space of five seconds, and Scotland made the most of their advantage.
John McGinn and Che Adams were on target early in the second half as Scotland sealed six points from their opening three Nations League games before the hosts had another man sent off in stoppage time.
Scotland boss Steve Clarke had been left scratching his head over his side's 3-0 defeat in Dublin on Saturday and three of his defenders did not make the 2,500-mile journey - skipper Andy Robertson, John Souttar and Scott McKenna.
Scott McTominay was restored to the back three beside Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry, who lined up on the left, while wing-backs Nathan Patterson and Greg Taylor came in along with Billy Gilmour and Armstrong.
Ireland had struggled in the Yerevan heat when they went down to Armenia in the Group B1 opener but conditions were fine for Scotland in the Republican Stadium thanks to the 8pm local kick-off time, a breeze and a pre-match downpour.
Armenia rarely ventured forward in their 2-0 defeat at Hampden last week but they showed much more attacking ambition in the opening stages and went ahead inside six minutes.
Hanley looked favourite to win the ball out wide but he misjudged his challenge and fell over to leave Tigran Barseghyan to race to the byline and cut it back for Vahan Bichakhchyan to finish at the near post.
Gilmour soon had a shot pushed over after a short corner and Scotland were level in the 14th minute when Armstrong quickly followed up to slot home after Adams had failed to get an ambitious shot away.
The goal did not settle Scotland down though and Armenia twice nearly scored from balls over the top with the visitors being rescued by an offside flag and then a recovery tackle from the grounded Hendry.
Craig Gordon soon saved from Eduard Spertsyan and Scotland continued to look vulnerable at the back when Armenia ran at them.
Clarke's side began to get to grips with the game around the half-hour mark and Adams twice threatened from long range before Patterson sliced well off target following Taylor's low cross.
The key passage of play started with Hovhannisyan's late challenge on Patterson. McGinn squared up to the defender and was floored by a headbutt before Montenegrin referee Nikola Dabanovic flashed two yellow cards and a red.
Scotland gave the hosts no time to reorganise as Armstrong latched on to McGinn's pass in the box and beat a defender before steering the ball home brilliantly despite losing his footing.
The Scots hammered home their numerical superiority after the interval. McGinn turned and fired home from six yards in the 50th minute after Patterson had cushioned Taylor's deep cross into him.
Five minutes later, Armstrong did superbly to send Southampton team-mate Adams away on the counter-attack and the forward curled home.
Scotland could have had more. Armstrong twice threatened his hat-trick and both Adams and Taylor forced saves.
David Turnbull, Lewis Ferguson, Anthony Ralston and Jacob Brown were given run-outs and Allan Campbell was handed a debut as Scotland continued to dominate possession, although the hosts missed some late chances and Gordon pulled off two good second-half stops.
Kamo Hovhannisyan was shown a straight red card following a wild challenge on Ferguson and Campbell saw a shot deflected wide.
Scotland had comfortably beaten Armenia 2-0 at Hampden Park last week and their response was quick as they levelled in the 14th minute through Armstrong.
Defender Jack Hendry played the ball into Che Adams who failed to execute an overhead kick but his Southampton teammate moved in to side-foot the ball into the net from 12 yards.
With 90 seconds to go before the break, Armenia defender Arman Hovhannisyan was sent off after picking up two quick yellow cards, one for a lunging tackle on Patterson and then another for motioning his head towards McGinn.
Manager Steve Clarke said: "It was a difficult schedule for the players but we haven't made excuses. There is no excuses for the two games we lost.
"Two wins against Armenia are not going to make this international camp a good camp because it wasn't. We failed in our primary objective which was to get to the World Cup. We failed in that."
He continued: "We had a really bad performance in Dublin which put us on the back foot again. So it's nice to bounce back tonight but there's work to do.
"It was a game we wanted to win, it was a game we probably had to win, although not necessarily if you look at it mathematically.
"It puts us in a position where we can go to September and have a realistic chance of topping the group and that's what we wanted."
Gary Caldwell told Sky Sports:
"I think when Steve Clarke analyses this game from a coaching point of view, I don't think he'll be happy with it, especially defensively in that opening period. The Scotland players have had their flip-flops and sunglasses on during this second half.
"It's still a fantastic result despite a shaky first-half performance. It's a result Clarke needed a lot. The sending-off has without a doubt had an impact on the game but it's going to do wonders for confidence and places Scotland in a much stronger position in the Nations League.
"There's still a lot of work to do be done in the next couple of games and into next season."
Scotland play Ukraine on September 21 in the Nations League and Armenia will follow suit by taking on the same nation on September 24. Scotland then host the Republic of Ireland at 7.45pm on this day.
