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Mc Ginn forces in only goal late on after Doak shot saved Croatia's Petar Sucic sent off before break for two yellow cards - Modric booked for protests and will miss next game Victory in Poland on Monday will earn relegation play-off place If that happens, and Croatia lose at home to Portugal with there being a three-goal swing, Scotland would be in the Nations League quarter-finals and among the top seeds for the World Cup qualification draw Colin Moffat Scotland 0-0 Croatia Craig Gordon stands firm to punch away a blur of a strike from Luka Sucic. Just as well it was straight at him! The Scotland goalkeeper then has to punch away a follow-up cross and then gathers the second delivery into his area. Scotland 0-0 Croatia The Scotland mistakes keep coming, with Grant Hanley lumbering forward before passing straight to a player in red and white. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Dominik Kotarski thumps the ball out of play in his own half. Can Scotland build something from that goalkeeping error? The home side work it to Kenny Mc Lean and he fires a shot high over the target from distance. Scotland 0-0 Croatia A sore one for Billy Gilmour as Petar Sucic clatters in from behind - and that's the first booking of the game. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Willie Miller Former Scotland defender on Sportsound It's a big lesson. Croatia are on top form, they've got a swagger about them, they've got a certain class about how they treat the ball and how they find each other. We're the exact opposite, we keep giving the ball away. Luka Modric in action for Croatia Scotland 0-0 Croatia Luka Sucic swings a dangerous ball across the face of goal and it zips just wide. Croatia stunned that the officials have missed a touch off the head of Scotland captain Andy Robertson. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Martin Baturina meets a deep, diagonal cross in the Scotland penalty box but doesn't know whether to go with his head or his feet and ends up prodding the ball gently into the arms of Craig Gordon. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Has that wee flurry settled Scotland? The hosts string a few passes together deep in their own territory, not really going anywhere. Still, it's a big improvement on the early one-way traffic. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Three corners in quick succession for Scotland. The first two are repelled easily, the last one is nodded off target by Grant Hanley. Scotland 0-0 Croatia That might just be Tommy Conway's first touch and it leads to a chance for Scotland. Ben Doak speeds down the right and picks out Scott Mc Tominay near the edge of the penalty area. The big midfielder hits it first time and draws a good diving save from the goalkeeper. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Leanne Crichton Former Scotland international on Sportsound Croatia are in total control. Scotland don't know when to press - they cannot get close, they are so disjointed. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Scotland are so off the pace. Croatia are bossing the game completely. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Jane Lewis BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden There's a healthy travelling support inside Hampden and they seem to be enjoying themselves after this strong start from their team. From the ones I spoke to pre-match, they've come in confident mood. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Martin Dowden BBC Sport Scotland at Hampden Scotland need to work their way into this already as Croatia have already demonstrated they can, and will, create. They should be ahead already. Scotland are reeling in these early stages and slackness is costing them. Scotland 0-0 Croatia The big toe of Craig Gordon to the rescue! It looks like the Scotland veteran is wrong-footed by the shot from Andrej Kramaric, but he manages to stick out a leg just in time. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Leanne Crichton Former Scotland international on Sportsound It's another big chance, and again it comes from Scotland losing possession. He has to hit the target. Two let-offs for Scotland already. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Ominous signs for Scotland as Croatia stroll forward with plenty of time to pick their passes. It ends with Luka Sucic blazing over from a promising position. Scotland 0-0 Croatia Willie Miller Former Scotland defender on Sportsound I don't know what he was thinking, there wasn't a blue jersey in sight. It's a woeful effort from Andrej Kramaric thankfully. Scotland 0-0 Croatia A massive brain fade from Kenny Mc Lean, who fires a pass back in the direction of his own goal and straight to the feet of Andrej Kramaric, who cannot profit as he drags his shot well wide. Scotland 0-0 Croatia A slow start at Hampden, although we have had a shock stray pass from Luka Modric going straight out of play. Dogged Scotland earned their first Nations League victory and ended their long winless run as substitute John Mc Ginn's late goal finally overcame 10-man Croatia. The midfielder seized upon a loose ball after Dominik Kotarski parried a Ben Doak shot to send Hampden into belated uproar with his 19th goal for his country. The victory offers Scotland hope of retaining their Nations League A status, with a relegation play-off in the spring the prize if they can win in Poland on Monday. Three points in Warsaw could even still earn a place in the Nations League quarter-finals, and a spot among the top seeds for the World Cup qualifying draw, were Croatia to lose at home to Portugal and there be a three-goal swing. But those permutations can wait for a day or two. More pressing at Hampden was that Steve Clarke's side badly needed a victory after failing to win their previous 10 competitive matches and having done so only once in their past 16 overall. How Scotland's human blur Doak left £77m man in daze Clarke 'still a little uptight' as Poland await All the latest Scotland national team news Recent performances had offered some encouragement against quality opposition but the Scots were dominated in the opening stages by the impressive Croats. Part of the issue was self-inflicted errors. Kenny Mc Lean gifted Andrej Kramaric a chance; Luka Sucic spurned another; then Kramaric’s shot bounced wide after scraping off Craig Gordon’s studs. That was all within the opening 10 minutes. Croatia were in total control but the narrative changed when Orel Grinfeeld produced a second yellow card for, what seemed, a nothing challenge by Petar Sucic on John Souttar. That was the key moment. Croatia were furious, Scotland regrouped at the break, and the complexion of the contest turned on its head and paved the way for this long-awaited win. Suddenly, Scotland were the dominant side and Doak became increasingly influential. Billy Gilmour should have played in the teenager in acres of space in front of goal but blazed over instead. The Napoli midfielder did so again shortly afterwards from Doak's pull back. Doak himself diverted a back-post volley just off target from a teasing Ryan Gauld cross. Croatia remained a sporadic threat. Substitute Mario Pasalic got in from Luka Modric's wonderful ball and ought to have scored, but dinked it just past a post. It was a huge let-off. And it was punished as Doak got to the byeline and flashed a shot at goal. Kotarski flapped it towards Mc Ginn, who was the hero once more. Scotland looked for the second goal that would have given them the head-to-head advantage over Croatia, but it was not forthcoming. Instead, they will go to Poland with their sights on a relegation play-off and relying on Portugal winning in Split to have any chance of an unlikely second-place finish. Mc Ginn's goal was his 19th for Scotland - only four men have scored more We will never know what might have happened had the red card not been shown but Scotland will not care. This vindicates the hard times Scotland have had to endure in this campaign and, while they were handed a huge slice of fortune, they still had to deliver. That said, Clarke's side were being taught a lesson in the opening half. Croatia seized the initiative and Scotland repeatedly made mistakes. Time and time again, players in blue turned over possession far too easily. Often, in the most dangerous of areas. They were riding their luck way too often. The sending off changed everything and all that was lacking was a little quality or composure as they tried to stretch their opponents and get in. Performances have, at times, offered optimism but the reality is a win here offered the unlikely hope of rescuing this Nations League campaign. The reaction of the Hampden crowd at full-time said it all. But Scotland must deliver again in Poland on Monday. This video can not be played 'It's one of our poorest performances but we got the little breaks' - Clarke Croatia will undoubtedly be furious, after missing the chance to secure second place in this Nations League group. They knew the importance of this tie from their own perspective and started superbly, creating three excellent chances in the opening stages. Normally, sides of that quality are ruthless. Thankfully, for Scotland, not so here. They were toying with Scotland, entirely controlling the play and guess who was central? The 39-year-old Modric. The red card infuriated Croatia but they still had the nous to run Scotland close and almost emerge with a point. Scotland picked up their first competitive win since beating Cyprus in September 2023. It ends a 10-game winless run in competitive games (D4 L6), which was the longest in their history. After winning eight competitive away games in a row between September 2021 and September 2023, Croatia have now only won one of their last five (D1 L3). John Mc Ginn has now scored 19 international goals, taking him level with Ally Mc Coist. Only four players have scored more Scotland: Denis Law (30), Kenny Dalglish (30), Hughie Gallacher (23) and Lawrie Reilly (23). Andy Robertson (79) and Craig Gordon (78) are now in the top five all-time appearance makers for Scotland, with only Kenny Dalglish (102), Jim Leighton (91) and Darren Fletcher (80) ahead of them. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 15th November 2024 at 21: 56 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: Steve Clarke Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Zlatko Dalic Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Steve Clarke Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Zlatko Dalic Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 UEFA Nations League All competitions All competitions All competitions Scotland went unbeaten across their first five meetings with Croatia (W2 D3) but have lost their most recent two games against the Croats, including last month in Zagreb (1-2). Croatia have never won away in Scotland (D2 L1), with this their first trip to Hampden Park since October 2013, losing 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier. Scotland are both on their longest ever winless run at home (6 games – D3 L3) and longest run without a victory in competitive fixtures (10 games - D4 L6); they could also now level their longest overall winless run, set in 1998 (9 games – D3 L5 currently). Only Greece (9) have won more games across the last two editions of the UEFA Nations League than Croatia (W7 D3 L2), who only won two of their 10 matches in the competition prior (D1 L7). Bosnia (73), Serbia (72) and Israel (69) are the only League A nations to face more shots in this season’s UEFA Nations League than Scotland (67), though after a 0-0 draw with Portugal last time out the Scots could keep back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since September 2023. Croatia have scored in each of their last 14 away games (29 goals), since blanking in three consecutive such matches between March and September 2021 – their previous longest streak was an 11-game run ending in September 2004. 19-year-old Ben Doak could make his fifth appearance for Scotland with his previous four all coming in the UEFA Nations League; only Paul Mc Stay (6) and Willie Henderson (5) have made as many as five appearances in competitive fixtures as a teenager for the Tartan Army previously. Croatia’s Ivan Perisic has been directly involved in three goals in his last two appearances against Scotland (1 goal, 2 assists), although he hasn’t ever scored in 18 appearances in the UEFA Nations League. © 2024 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.