BETTER TO BE LUCKY THAN GOOD

Wrong team and wrong tactics but jammy Scots will take vital win as we edge closer to qualifying

- BY KEITH JACKSON

IT'S happening isn't it? At long last - and after nearly three decades - Scotland are heading to the next World Cup.

What went on at Hampden Park last night, when Steve Clarke's side pulled off perhaps the most ill-deserved win of his record-equalling 71-game tenure, has to be a sign the nation’s luck has finally changed.

This was a night when the manager probably picked the wrong team and got his tactics wrong into the bargain.

A contest in which his team hardly swung a meaningful punch.

And yet, just when it seemed all hope had left the building, Clarke and his players conjured a Houdini act to turn it all around in jaw-dropping fashion.

From nowhere, Ryan Christie pulled Scotland level within a couple of minutes of the Greeks going in front.

Lewis Ferguson then smashed home the goal that turned it all on its head.

And sub Lyndon Dykes put it all beyond doubt in injury time, having been gifted the goal by a Greek goalkeeping blunder of almost tragic proportions.

It was all so unexpectedly glorious the Tartan Army could not contain their glee.

Before the joyous madness could get started Clarke did what he always seems to do - he threw in one of his trademark curveball selections by leaving Billy Gilmour out of the starting XI.