By Stephen Mcgowan For The Scottish Daily Mail and Mark Wilson For The Scottish Daily Mail
00:46 17 Nov 2023, updated 01:17 17 Nov 2023
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia twice gave Georgia the lead on Thursday night
- Scotland hit back through Scott McTominay and sub Lawrence Shankland
- Anthony Gordon should ditch England to play for Scotland – It’s All Kicking Off
Scott McTominay hit out at the Georgia players for ‘crying like babies’ after Scotland battled to secure a dramatic draw in Tbilisi.
The Man United midfielder scored his seventh goal of the campaign as the Scots twice fought back from being a goal down, with Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia hitting a double for Georgia.
McTominay was involved in an incident when midfielder Giorgi Kochorashvili threw himself to the ground in an embarrassing attempt to convince referee Aleksandar Stavrev he’d been struck in the face.
Kochorashvili was a repeat offender, with some of his team-mates also guilty of attempting to con Stavrev.
‘They have got some really good footballers but the way they were acting on the pitch tonight was a disgrace in terms of provoking the referee and obviously us as well,’ McTominay told Viaplay Sports.
Asked how difficult it had been to keep calm, he added: ‘We had to keep our heads, but it’s difficult.
‘They should do something about people pretending like they’re injured when they’re not and stuff like that. It’s a difficult one to call, but rolling around crying like babies all afternoon is not football.
‘We just wanted to get on with the game and try to win it. Whereas on the other side they were provoking the referee a lot.’
McTominay was pleased Scotland avoided defeat having trailed twice, but admitted Clarke’s side were well short of their best.
‘That’s fair to say. We’ve had some really good nights and we’re going to have some nights where we maybe don’t play as well,’ he said.
‘It’s important when we don’t play so well that we stick together and not lose the game and try to win.
‘It’s about keeping your head, picking the right passes and being a little bit more patient.’
Manager Steve Clarke praised his Scotland players for maintaining their composure in the face of Georgian dirty tricks.
Hearts star Lawrence Shankland claimed his second international goal with a superb header in the third minute of added time to give the Scots a well-earned draw in a fraught Euro 2024 qualifier.
Shankland’s fellow goalscorer Scott McTominay slammed Georgia’s ‘disgraceful’ antics and accused some of their players of ‘crying like babies’ during the Group A encounter in Tbilisi.
‘That’s one of the challenges when you come here,’ said Scotland boss Clarke.
‘You know they are going to do whatever they have to do to try to get positive result and you have to react to that. You have to show you can control yourselves and not get involved.
‘You can’t react to any of the shenanigans. We just kept plugging away, knowing there was going to be extra time added on for timewasting. And it was nice to get the goal in injury time…’
Clarke praised Shankland for his sudden impact in a match which would have been a lot more tense had the Scots not already qualified.
‘You know you’re going to get a lot of injury time because Georgia spent a lot of time on the floor going into the last 15, 20 minutes,’ he said. ‘So we knew there was time left. We needed a goal, he got the goal and I was delighted for Lawrence. I was delighted for the team as well.
‘We knew it would be tough. Scotland have come here twice before and lost both games, so we wanted to hopefully get a win. But we’re pleased we’ve broken that run of defeats and we’ll look to build on that in the Norway game on Sunday. We’ll look to put on a good performance at home.’
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
