Cometh the hour, cometh the captain. Making his 80th appearance for his country, Andy Robertson marked his elevation to the top three of Scotland’s most-capped players by steering his team-mates away from the edge of a precipice.
Deep into four minutes of added time, Steve Clarke’s side were on course for an undeserved relegation from League A of the Nations League.
The Scots had scored in the opening three minutes of an international for the first time in 19 years through John McGinn, before Poland drew level through Kamil Piatkowski’s thunderous strike early in the second half.
When Croatia refused to play their part in the miracle of Warsaw by cancelling out Portugal’s lead in Split, another campaign threatened to end as so many have over the years. In glorious failure.
On a night of feast or famine, boom or bust, Robertson wasn’t having that. As Scotland went for broke, the skipper launched himself at John Souttar’s cross in the final seconds of an engrossing game of football.
The ball bulleted off his head into the roof of the net and the Liverpool defender raced to the sidelines to be engulfed by joyous team-mates. On a night of missed chances, Clarke’s men had saved the best for last.
The goal secured a relegation play-off against one of the Pool B teams in March. And was no more than the Scots deserved after securing seven points from a possible nine following three defeats on the bounce to open the group.
Before a ball was kicked, Clarke had kept people guessing on the inclusion of Ben Doak. The kid really is so good that he’d have to have a leg dangling off his hips to leave him out of a match as important as this.
The one accusation that can be levelled at the teenager is his final ball. But after gathering a piercing pass from the sublime Billy Gilmour, there was little wrong with the cutback which picked out McGinn 12 yards from goal.
Nothing makes Scotland better than the talisman making perfectly timed runs into the box with an eye for goal. Claiming his 19th international strike against Croatia on Friday, goal No 20 was a simple, composed pass into the bottom corner of the net.
The strike took the midfielder beyond Ally McCoist in the Scotland scoring charts and just ten behind Kenny Dalglish.
After a fallow period, the man known to his team-mates as ‘Meatball’ was cooking with gas.
Poland had to avoid defeat to stay in the fight for a place in League A, where they’d been ever present since the competition’s introduction in 2018 and Scotland’s lead didn’t help their cause.
God knows how they’d have coped with Gilmour’s thundering strike from 20 yards dropping three inches lower and lodging itself in the postage stamp corner instead of ricochetting off the crossbar and bouncing to safety.
The Napoli midfielder had only scored twice in his senior career — both goals coming for Scotland. What a hat-trick that would have been.
Before that, Scotland had endured a ropey spell after scoring. A rare period when they lost control of the game.
Jakub Kaminski and Piatkowski forced Craig Gordon into big saves. Robertson also diced with disaster with a kamikaze pass across his own back line which should have ended in a Poland leveller.
As Tony Ralston and Scott McTominay played a game of ‘after you Claude’, Karol Swiderski nicked the ball and ran through on goal with a huge chance to score. He blazed his effort into the sidenetting in a huge reprieve for the Scots.
Gilmour’s strike off the junction of crossbar and post changed the momentum in an instant.
Suddenly, after a difficult period, it was all Scotland, McTominay’s influence growing significantly. First he had a thumping shot blocked by the legs of the keeper. Minutes before the interval, the former Manchester United man came even closer when his thudding strike struck the base of the post after a huge touch by goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.
A goal to the good, with two efforts coming off the woodwork, you wondered if Scotland would come to regret a first half when they could have been out of sight.
At the break, a ridiculously open game was 1-0 going on 3-3.
Scotland’s success hinged on keeping their concentration and composure. Players throwing themselves in front of every ball, putting their bodies on the line.
How brilliantly Souttar led by example when Poland’s most dangerous player, Kaminski, beat Gordon with a low shot. A sliding block prevented the ball creeping over the line, Gordon gathering in gratitude.
The score was as likely to go to 2-0 as 1-1.
Sweeping up the park immediately, Kenny McLean fed McGinn on the left of the area. With Doak and Dykes waiting in the middle, the goalscorer’s low cross was hooked behind for a corner. Another chance gone.
The price of the missed opportunities rose when Poland equalised with a brilliant strike after 58 minutes. The way Scotland were defending, it needed something special to beat Gordon.
Defender Piatkowski provided it with a goal the great Robert Lewandowski would have been proud to call his own.
An absolute rocket from 18 yards into the top postage- stamp corner for an equalising goal. The home support in a crowd of 55,443 nearly blew the roof in the PGE Narodowy Stadium off its hinges.
Yet, a thrilling game of football could still have gone either way.
From high in the stands of this imposing arena, a glancing header from Dykes looked in all the way. Skorupski threw himself across his line to produce a quite brilliant clawing save. From Scotland’s perspective, it was heart-breaking.
With Croatia losing 1-0, Scotland needed one more goal to force second place in the group on a tiebreak, by virtue of away wins. A decision to withdraw Doak for Ryan Christie was surprising.
Replacing Dykes with Lawrence Shankland less so. News of a Croatia equaliser in Split changed everything, all but closing off the path to second place for Scotland.
Winning the game could still preserve a League A lifeline.
The sight of McTominay limping from the fray clutching his boot enhanced the feeling of a team running on empty after a terrific effort. Not so fast was the cry.
On the night he drew level with Darren Fletcher in the caps hall of fame, Robertson savoured one of the best moments of his international career as Scotland summoned up the spirit of Belgrade and Oslo once more to grab a dramatic victory.
