Scotland fight back to defeat 10-man Curaçao | OneFootball

Scotland came from one goal down to defeat Curaçao helped by a first-half sending off with Lawrence Shankland scoring a brace.

Steve Clarke recently signed a new deal to keep him in charge of Scotland until 2030 but he would have expected a better start from his defence at Hampden Park.

With just 17 minutes gone in the game Tahith Chong picked up the ball on the half way line, drove forward, and easily found a way through the Scotland defence before finishing past Craig Gordon.

But if Dick Advocaat's World Cup debutants were hoping to earn a surprise win then they weren't helped when a VAR on-field review decided that Jurgen Locadia deserved to be sent off for a late challenge on Aaron Hickey. The former Brighton man led with his elbow right into the face of Hickey which ensured his dismissal.

Clarke was forced into a change in the 42nd minute when Billy Gilmour couldn't continue. Scotland will be hoping that substitution was made out of excess caution but his replacement Findlay Curtis did score just three minutes after coming on to make it 1-1 going into the break.

The home side completed the turnaround in the second half. Lawrence Shankland put his side in with an hour gone after a short corner routine.

Then five minutes later, the new Rangers signing got his second of the game to make it 3-1, this time receiving the ball from Lyndon Dykes before drilling it into the corner beyond Eloy Room.

The win was wrapped up with 10 minutes left when Curtis was felled by Jurien Gaari. There wasn't a lot of contact but not quite enough for VAR to get involved when Ryan Christie sent the resulting penalty straight down the middle to make it 4-1.

It may have been against 10-man Curaçao but the overall performance is likely to give Scotland a boost going into the World Cup with another friendly against Bolivia on the horizon.