Nathan Patterson on target as Scotland CLINCH World Cup play-off place with 2-0 win over Moldova in Chisinau
THE kitman could have printed a 20 to go with the 22 on the back of the shirt.
This was the night Nathan Patterson took Scotland a huge step closer to next year’s World Cup.
With one swipe of his left foot the young Rangers full-back scored his first goal for his country.
Then with a swish with his right he set up Che Adams to score and seal this victory in Moldova and guarantee Steve Clarke’s side a place in the play-offs.
Craig Gordon was another one of the Tartan Army’s heroes with a fantastic first-half save before keeping out a late penalty.
For the team and those supporters this was just a game where, for once, everything went right.
It was exactly a year to the day since Scotland qualified for their last major tournament.
There would be no major boogying at time up here, like in Serbia 12 months ago, with Clarke and his players refusing to get carried away.
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They have their focus on group winners Denmark now at Hampden on Monday and a free hit to win their sixth consecutive game which would see them seeded.
And who would bet against it?
Failing to win here against the team ranked 181 in the world was just unthinkable.
Moldova are the makeweights of Group F with their manager literally about to get sacked in the morning. The Faroe sit above them.
Going into this game the figure in their goals against column on the table was an eye-watering -20.
Yet despite all that, was there anyone who would have bet everything they had on a Scotland victory?
Maybe that’s down to our national pessimism. We just don’t do optimism on nights like these, do we?
Not in Chisinau in November.
But there would be no agony to pore over, no inquest to be had.
Scotland got the job done.
The players’ mentality was right as they made sure this wouldn’t be a result to add to the crime sheet of the past.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been a Scotland game without an anxious moment to have everyone fearing the worst.
At 0-0 Craig Gordon was required to pull off one of the best saves he’s ever had to make.
Quite how he managed to keep out the header from attacker Artur Ionita, from point blank range, heaven knows.
There were 22 minutes on the clock and had Moldova scored at that point then who knows what might have happened.
But that regret is theirs.
What it reminded Scotland was that there was work to be done and they weren’t going to have everything their own way.
That said, on another night Clarke’s side would have been two or three goals ahead by the time Gordon was being high-fived by his team-mates following his heroics.
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Moldova keeper Stanislav Namasco was having a great game with some reaction stops Scotland’s No1 would have been proud of himself.
He did have to pick the ball out from the back of his net after only three minutes, only for a linesman’s flag to go up and disallow a goal for Adams.
But John McGinn, Stuart Armstrong, Billy Gilmour and Andy Robertson all had efforts on target that the 35 year-old Namasco beat away.
When it came to Patterson’s strike, though, he simply didn’t stand a chance.
The immensely talented young Rangers right-back probably won’t score many goals in his career with his left foot.
But here he used it to get his very first for his country.
Patterson showed the clinical finishing of a seasoned striker after he burst into the box to take a pass from McGinn.
There was the obligatory VAR check to make everyone inside the ground wonder if there was something wrong with the strike.
But after the referee blew his whistle to signal it was good Patterson could scream out his joy.
Suddenly any worries that Scotland would live to regret their earlier misses were replaced by a belief that all would be well.
Moldova just didn’t look capable of getting back into the game with the men in light blue jerseys in no mood to throw any points away.
It wasn’t a case of if Clarke’s side would get a second goal. But when.
And when it came in 65 minutes Patterson turned from scorer to provider with an assist for Adams.
Bursting into the box again, he got to the bye-line this time before firing a ball across goal for the striker to score.
It was all over bar the singing.
The vast majority of the Tartan Army were behind the goals Scotland were attacking in the second half and they willed the team on.
Adams thought he’d got a third with 20 minutes to go but once again the flag went up and he was left disappointed.
The drama wasn’t over, though.
In 80 minutes Moldova managed to get forward in a rare attack with a dangerous ball played into the box.
But after it was dealt with and had gone out of play the referee was invited to look at the monitor beside the pitch by VAR.
There was only going to be one outcome after that.
And, sure enough, the Serbian official was soon pointing to the penalty spot with Patterson ruled to have handled the ball inside the box.
Gordon, though, just wasn’t interested in being beaten.
Vadim Rata hit a decent spot-kick to his left but Scotland’s veteran keeper dived brilliantly to make another sensational save.
Moldova piled into the box to try and score from the rebound but Kieran Tierney rushed in quicker than anyone to clear.
It was just brilliant from Gordon.
The Scotland supporters at the opposite end of the stadium chanted his name and screamed ‘Gordon, Gordon give us a wave.’
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And he did.
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