A late Christophe Berra header settled a dour game at Hampden.
9.39pm GMT
And that’s that. A win’s a win’s a win, and there’s no shame in Scotland struggling to break through this resolute Irish defence. But both teams will need to raise their games a little on Sunday, when they face Gibraltar and Finland respectively. A pair of victories, please, and the Euro finals will be one step closer.
9.36pm GMT
90 min: There will be two added minutes of this. At 30 seconds per substitution, there should be about 37 minutes, but this is what’s been decided.
9.35pm GMT
88 min: Anya goes on a fast zip down the right, but he mishits his cross while in acres of space, and Russell free in the middle. “The invisible match would be even more interesting if everything except the nets were visible (so you could deduce that a goal had been scored if it bulged in the right way), but you didn’t know which direction the teams were playing,” argues Neil Metcalfe. “Only I guess you could (sadly) usually work that out in the case of Scotland.”
9.33pm GMT
87 min: So this now qualifies as a very decent debut for Ritchie now. He started very slowly, and only really got going in the last 20 minutes or so. But he’s really stepped up to the plate there; a few busy bustles down the right, a decent shot on target, and some fantastic dead-ball delivery!
9.31pm GMT
Scotland on the attack again, first with Russell down the left, then Anya down the right. Anya wins a corner. Ritchie takes, and it’s a superlative delivery, whipped to the near post, where Berra rises to head down and plant the simplest of headers into the bottom-right corner!
9.29pm GMT
83 min: A free kick for Northern Ireland, out on the right. Davis whips it to the back post, where the newly arrived McCullough is caught a bit cold. He should get a shot away, but is hassled by Anya before he can cream one goalwards. Northern Ireland still earn a corner from the move, then another, and then another, as Scotland are pressed back for the first time in the match. The period of pressure finally ends when a long ball’s pumped down the middle by the Irish, and McKay heads weakly over. What a smash and grab a Northern Ireland win would be!
9.26pm GMT
81 min: Evans is replaced by McCullough. Meanwhile Simon McMahon’s back. Again. “I’ve taken on board your own suggestion Scott, and just imagined my own match. Scotland are now leading 3-0 thanks to a brace from Ivor Cutler and a King Creosote penalty.”
9.24pm GMT
79 min: Whittaker bombs down the right and fizzes a low cross into the middle. Rhodes, sliding in, nearly connects, but Evans gets in first to clear. It’s Whittaker’s final contribution to tonight’s highly visible entertainment: he’s hooked for Russell.
9.23pm GMT
76 min: McKay comes on for Magennis. “What about just showing the ref?” writes Alys Barber-Rogers, who has just blown my mind. “Without wishing to be all worthy (never heard of at Guardian HQ), it might help show how bloody hard they work. Also, I suspect it would look all kindsa funny.” Can we still see their whistle floating around? And cards and pencil?
9.20pm GMT
74 min: Ritchie has upped his game. Once again he strides with purpose down the right flank, and batters a low shot towards the bottom-right corner. McGovern deals with it. “This idea by Simon McMahon that you have expanded on has interested me,” writes Ronan Mellan. “With the invisible players and ball, would we just have the ripple of the nets to indicate a goal? That could be a thing of subtle beauty.” Yes, and the possibilities are endless. Invisible players, invisible ball, invisible goals, invisible shirt-tugs, invisible fouls, invisible bench-emptying 21-man brawls. An invisible empty bench. That’s entertainment, right there.
9.17pm GMT
71 min: Good work by Anya down the left. He works a little space and time for a shot, but it’s blocked by Hodson. Ritchie sends a decent corner onto Berra’s head, ten yards out. The defender can’t clatter the ball goalwards. Another corner, this time from the other side, and Naismith flashes a header straight at McGovern. Better from Scotland, who have been a shambles since the restart.
9.15pm GMT
70 min: More changes, this time for the Irish. Davis and McLaughlin on, Norwood and Reeves off.
9.15pm GMT
69 min: Ritchie exchanges passes with Naismith down the right, cuts inside, and flashes a shot wide left. There was power and irritation in that. Ritchie really hasn’t done much on his debut.
9.13pm GMT
67 min: A long, aimless hoof upfield, and suddenly Magennis is tearing down the inside-right channel pretty much unopposed! He’s got no help, and a couple of white, yellow and pink shirts soon get close, but not close enough to stop Magennis dribbling a shot across McGregor and a couple of feet wide of the left-hand post.
9.12pm GMT
65 min: Scotland with a lot of passing. Going absolutely nowhere. This is pretty dismal stuff right now.
9.08pm GMT
62 min: Scotland make another couple of changes themselves. Morrison comes on for McArthur, while Rhodes, winning his first cap in a year and a half, replaces the ineffective Steven Fletcher.
9.07pm GMT
60 min: Northern Ireland are slowly working their way into this game. Scotland have gone right off the boil. A few triangles down the right, and Dallas should be sent scampering clear down the wing. But McNair’s ball through the Scottish back line is a dreadful clump, and it flies out of play for a goal kick. “Tell Simon McMahon he can wonder no longer,” writes Mick McMenemie. “Here’s football with an invisible ball. He can find his own video of invisible players.” Shouldn’t be a problem. Scotland have sent a few of those to World Cups in the past.
9.03pm GMT
58 min: A couple of changes for Northern Ireland. McCourt and Hodson come on for Grigg and Baird.
9.01pm GMT
55 min: This is much better from Northern Ireland, though, who are enjoying their first sustained period of possession in the match. Like Scotland before them, it’s all a bit sterile, but surely preferable to backs-to-the-wall defence.
9.00pm GMT
53 min: Not a whole lot going on right now, the Irish seeing a little more of the ball but doing very little with it. So here’s Simon McMahon again. “Not that this game is meaningless or anything, but I’ve been wondering recently what would be more interesting: watching the game by just seeing the ball, with invisible players as it were, or by just seeing the players, with an invisible ball. It’s not keeping me awake at night, but all the same, what do you and your other reader think? Sky or whoever can have this idea, in fact I’m sure they’ve got people working on it as we speak.” How about no players and no ball? Just the pitch. Perhaps get Brian Eno to work on a soundtrack, Robert Wyatt on piano. It would make Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait look like a Bond movie.
8.57pm GMT
50 min: Forsyth scampers after a ball down the left. His determination gets him there, and he whips a high cross to the near post, where Naismith flashes a header, meant for the top left, wide and high. A decent effort, and as near as the Scots have come to opening the scoring. Naismith has injected a little fizz into the Scottish front line.
8.53pm GMT
47 min: Anya earns a corner down the left. Subsequent events prove it to be a waste of his time.
8.52pm GMT
46 min: Naismith is in the thick of the action quickly, dragging a lame snapshot across the face of goal from the left-hand corner of the box. Not much of an effort, but one which shows Scotland are desperate to break Northern Ireland down.
8.51pm GMT
And we’re off again! It’s as you were for Northern Ireland, who kick off. Scotland make three changes: McGregor replaces Gordon in goal, Berra steps in for Martin at the back, and Naismith comes in for Maloney. Whether this match reaches England versus Australia proportions remains to be seen, but there are a lot of substitutes on the benches.
8.36pm GMT
Half-time entertainment:
8.35pm GMT
Not a single second of added time - told you the referee has hardly had to blow his whistle - and that’s that for the first half. More entertaining than the scoreline suggests. It’s been all Scotland, but Northern Ireland have been staunch in defence. I realise this is a hard sell, but ... no flipping!
8.33pm GMT
45 min: Another pass down the left channel, this time by Maloney. Steven Fletcher’s into the area, but McGovern’s off his line to smother the shot. A corner, which comes to nothing.
8.33pm GMT
43 min: Darren Fletcher slides a pass down the left channel. His namesake Steven flicks the ball inside for McArthur. Lovely first-time passing, but they can’t quite break through this resolute blue line. Hughes intercepts and clears. Forsyth has a dig from 30 yards, but the shot loops harmlessly into McGovern’s arms.
8.29pm GMT
40 min: A rare shrill parp of the referee’s whistle. This has been a friendly all right. Forsyth curls a dangerous looking ball into the Irish area from the left. Steven Fletcher nearly gets on the end of it to poke home, but he’s a yard offside. Peep!
8.28pm GMT
39 min: Twice within 60 seconds, a period of Scottish probing ends with the ball being cheaply given away, and a long pass nearly springing Grigg clear on the halfway line. Scotland have been the better team so far, but they need to watch this. Northern Ireland could easily hit them with a rope-a-dope sucker punch.
8.25pm GMT
36 min: Scotland with the sterile domination again. “After the Burley and Levein era, Scotland as an international Arsenal (19 min) with Strachan as Wenger will do for me,” writes Simon McMahon. “Perennial qualifiers who never actually win anything? Yes please.”
8.23pm GMT
33 min: Grigg tries to take down a long ball along the right wing, but succeeds only in kicking it up and into his startled coupon. It flies apologetically to Gordon in the Scotland goal. Easy to laugh, of course, but that was a clever run by Grigg, who would have had a tattered Scottish defence in all sorts of bother if he’d managed to control a difficult pass.
8.21pm GMT
32 min: Hampden will be noisier than this for the visit of Gibraltar on Sunday. It’ll have to be.
8.19pm GMT
30 min: Northern Ireland are making a lot of silly mistakes at the back. In the centre circle, Baird hectically batters what should be a simple pass at McNair, and the confusion allows Steven Fletcher to scamper off with the ball. He drifts down the left channel before skelping a low effort towards the bottom right. McGovern is behind it all the way.
8.17pm GMT
28 min: Magennis plays a dismal ball inside from the Irish right wing, allowing Anya to intercept and scoot off with extreme prejudice down the Scotland left. He reaches the byline and cuts an inviting ball back for Maloney, free in acres just inside the box. Blooter! The struggling Scottish rugby team could do with Maloney, because that’s a three pointer.
8.15pm GMT
26 min: It’s a nice, open game this. Northern Ireland are beginning to string a few passes together, and apply a little pressure to the Scottish defence. Dallas scoots into space as big as Texas down the left, but his cross evades Grigg in the middle and a Scottish boot hacks clear.
8.13pm GMT
24 min: It would be typical Scotland if they conceded the opening goal after their comfortable start. And that’s what they very nearly do, Daniel Lafferty’s looping cross from the left deceiving McArthur on the left-hand edge of the box and falling for Grigg, who looks to snap a shot across Gordon and into the bottom right. But Greer steps across to block the effort at source.
8.11pm GMT
22 min: Scotland have had 67% of the possession so far. And they should be leading, because Baird plays a loose pass to a snoozing Norwood in the centre circle, and McArthur is tearing off towards the Irish goal. He’s got Steven Fletcher begging to be slipped clear down the middle, but opts to lay off to Anya, who squirts a poor effort well wide left of goal from the edge of the box.
8.09pm GMT
21 min: A free kick for Scotland down the left. Scotland load the box. Ritchie takes. Grigg clears. Then McArthur whips a cross in from the right wing. Steven Fletcher is once again up with the keeper, but once again McGovern wins the duel, punching clear with confidence.
8.08pm GMT
19 min: Scotland are in total control right now. Dominant. A lot of pretty passing in the middle of the park. A loss of crispness when they get nearer the box. No goal yet. An international Arsenal.
8.05pm GMT
16 min: Not a roaring atmosphere at Hampden Park, it has to be said. The away fans making most of what noise there is. Anya is currently on a one-man mission to rouse the home support. First he dribbles down the left, but his cross is aimless. Then he jigs down the inside-left channel, before creaming a low shot a foot wide left of the Northern Ireland goal. A decent effort, and one which had McGovern scrambling.
8.03pm GMT
13 min: The Irish put a few passes together. And then Evans, down the left, sprays a diagonal ball to Magennis, on the right-hand corner of the Scotland box. He heads down for Norwood, who has a little space just inside the area, but blooters over. That’s much better from the visitors, who have taken a while to announce their presence tonight.
8.01pm GMT
12 min: A high ball from the left into the Irish box, and Steven Fletcher is battling for a header. McGovern does just enough to tip it away. But Northern Ireland are living a little dangerously here. Scotland have started very strongly. The Irish really need to put a few passes together.
8.00pm GMT
10 min: Maloney floats the corner to McArthur, on the edge of the D. It’s a Beckhamesque delivery, but McArthur is no Paul Scholes, and despite having time and space, doesn’t have the confidence to volley it goalwards first time. He brings the ball down and tries a curler that’s overcooked, and flies over the bar. For a second, Hampden held its breath in anticipation of the most spectacular goal at the ground since Zinedine Zidane rocked up for the Champions League final in 2002. But no.
7.58pm GMT
9 min: Whittaker sliderules a pass down the right wing for Ritchie, who looks to break into the box by nudging the ball past Evans. Evans blocks for a corner. From which the ball breaks to Anya, on the left-hand corner of the box. He fizzes a low shot towards the bottom left, and McGovern is forced to tip round for a corner.
7.55pm GMT
7 min: A high ball hoicked into the Irish box. Maloney rises at the left-hand post, but can only brush the ball onto the top of the netting. The away side will presumably be along in a minute or two.
7.54pm GMT
6 min: But there’s another one along in a minute. Anya’s started very well, and his bustle wins it down the left. Maloney takes, and there’s a game of head tennis in the Northern Irish six-yard box. The visitors eventually clear, but only after Steven Fletcher nearly guided a header into the top-left corner from eight yards.
7.53pm GMT
4 min: Forsyth flicks a lovely pass down the left wing to release Anya into the box. Anya reaches the byline and pulls the ball back. Steven Fletcher has a snap shot, but the ball’s deflected over the bar by Norwood. That nearly fell to Ritchie, too. The set piece comes to nothing.
7.52pm GMT
3 min: A little bit of space for Dallas down the left. He’s got blue shirts to aim for in the middle, but his low cross is hacked clear easily enough by Martin. Then McNair’s second touch of the ball in international football. A header, which leads to him clattering into Anya’s shoulder. Ooyah, oof, that’s a sore one. He gets up, he’ll be OK, but the poor lad will have been hoping for an easier introduction to the big time than this.
7.50pm GMT
2 min: McNair gets his first touch in international football, and is immediately robbed by Anya. The only way is up.
7.50pm GMT
And we’re off! Scotland get the ball rolling. The ball’s lumped forward, and quite quickly lost. Then regained, and passed around the back awhile. Scotland’s players are getting a feel of the ball. Northern Ireland haven’t really touched it yet.
7.48pm GMT
The teams are out! Fireworks! Unnecessary loud music! Passionate renditions of the national anthems! Northern Ireland’s God Save The Queen is given the bird by the Hampden crowd, who are much more into the Scottish number Awflourascawlin (© Stanley Baxter). Both teams are in their away strips, rugby union style. The Irish sport a two-tone blue number, while Scotland are in their Fifth Earl of Rosebery primrose-yellow and rose-pink affair. Lovely kits both. But before we kick off, there’s a minute’s applause in loving memory of one of Scotland’s true greats, Dave Mackay, who passed away three weeks ago. Five foot eight, and still a giant.
7.21pm GMT
Introducing ... Bournemouth striker Matt Ritchie, who wins his first cap for Scotland, supporting Steven Fletcher up front ... Derby County defender Craig Forsyth, making his first start for the Scots in his second match ... 19-year-old Manchester United defender Paddy McNair, turning out for Northern Ireland for the very first time.
7.15pm GMT
Scotland: Gordon, Whittaker, Forsyth, Greer, Martin, McArthur, D Fletcher, Ritchie, S Fletcher, Maloney, Anya.
Subs: McGregor, Marshall, Russell, Brown, Naismith, May, Robertson, Rhodes, Berra, Hutton, Bannan, Reynolds, Morrison, Forrest.
Northern Ireland: McGovern, D Lafferty, Evans, Baird, Dallas, Reeves, Norwood, McNair, Hughes, Magennis, Grigg.
Subs: Mannus, C McLaughlin, McCullough, Davis, McKay, K Lafferty, Brunt, R McLaughlin, McCourt, Ward, Cathcart, Hodson.
6.45pm GMT
It’s the 95th meeting between the oldest and fourth oldest international teams in the world. The first match, in 1884, saw Scotland beat Ireland, as the IFA’s representative team was then known, 5-0 in Ballynafeigh, Belfast. William Harrower of Queen’s Park and James Gossland of Rangers both scored twice, John Goudie of erstwhile Paisley outfit Abercorn bagged the other. The 94th match, in 2011, was also won by Scotland, 3-0 over Northern Ireland, Kenny Miller, James McArthur and Kris Commons doing the business in the Carling Nations Trophy at the Aviva in Dublin. And Scotland have had the rampant lion’s share of wins in between times, too. Still, Northern Ireland won the last match that really mattered, a 2-0 victory at Windsor Park in December 1983, on their way to winning the last-ever Home International Championship, Norman Whiteside and Sammy McIlroy the heroes. So it’s swings and roundabouts.
A local derby with a rich history; by definition, tonight’s match should be a seismic stramash. But this isn’t an ITV Sport production from the mid 1980s, so let’s be honest with each other. Scotland and Northern Ireland both have more important matters on their minds: upcoming European Championship qualifiers against Gibraltar and Finland. Not quite as romantic, maybe, but the Scots haven’t qualified for a major tournament since 1998, the Irish haven’t made one since 1986, and both are going well in their respective groups. Prioritisation is inevitable. Which doesn’t mean this won’t be competitive: both countries have pride at stake, will want to add a positive new chapter to that 131-year-old history book, are high on confidence, and are desirous of getting back into the groove, just in time for those crucial qualifiers. Tonight’s game just might not reach the blood and thunder levels of the old Home Internationals, is all. So there we go, miserably managing expectations. Now the Scots and Irish know what it feels like to follow a team coached by Roy Hodgson.
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