Malta 1-5 Scotland
World Cup 2018 Qualifiers
Group Stages
Sun 4th September 2016
20:45 (19:45 UK)
Ta` Qali Stadium, Valletta (A)
Att: 15,609
Referee: Yevhen Aranovskyi (Ukraine)
Snodgrass(9, pen 61, 84)
C Martin(53)
S Fletcher(78)
Hanley(9)
Ritchie(53)
D Marshall
C Paterson
R Martin
G Hanley
A Robertson
D Fletcher(C)
B Bannan
R Snodgrass
O Burke (J Forrest 66)
M Ritchie (I Anya 86)
C Martin (S Fletcher 68)
Manager:
Gordon Strachan
FIFA Ranking: 51
Effiong(13)
Sciberras(13)
Caruana(60)
Gambin(90+1)
A Hogg
J Caruana
A Agius
S Borg
R Scicluna (S Bajada 79)
P Fenech
G Sciberras
L Gambin
J Zerafa
A Schembri(C) (R Briffa 66)
A Effiong (M Mifsud 89)
Manager:
Pietro Ghedin
FIFA Ranking: 176
Key: Goals Assists Missed Penalty Red Card
| 1 | David Marshall (Hull City) | (25 Caps) | Age: 31 | ||
| 2 | Callum Paterson (Hearts) | (2 Caps) | Age: 21 | ||
| 3 | Andrew Robertson (Hull City) | (11 Caps) | Age: 22 | ||
| 4 | Russell Martin (Norwich City) | (26 Caps) | Age: 30 | ||
| 5 | Grant Hanley (Newcastle Utd) | (24 Caps) | Age: 24 | ||
| 6 | Barry Bannan (Sheffield Wednesday) | (22 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 7 | Darren Fletcher (West Bromwich Albion) Captain | (74 Caps) | Age: 32 | ||
| 8 | Oliver Burke (RB Leipzig) | (3 Caps) | Age: 19 | ||
| 9 | Chris Martin (Fulham) |
 |
(9 Caps) | Age: 27 | |
| 10 | Robert Snodgrass (Hull City) |
|
(18 Caps) | Age: 28 | |
| 11 | Matt Ritchie (Newcastle Utd) | (11 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 13 | James Forrest (Celtic) | (14 Caps) | Age: 25 | ||
| (Replaced Oliver Burke 66 min) | |||||
| 17 | Ikechi Anya (Derby County) | (22 Caps) | Age: 28 | ||
| (Replaced Matt Ritchie 86 min) | |||||
| 18 | Steven Fletcher (Sheffield Wednesday) |
|
(29 Caps) | Age: 29 | |
| (Replaced Chris Martin 68 min) | |||||
 Yellow Card  Red Card  Double Booking Goals Scored Assist  Penalty Save |
|||||
13 James Forrest
World Cup 2018 Qualifiers
Group Stages
Sun 4th September 2016
20:45 (19:45 UK)
Ta` Qali Stadium, Valletta (A)
Att: 15,609
Referee: Yevhen Aranovskyi (Ukraine)
World Cup 2018 Qualifiers
Group Stages
Sun 4th September 2016
20:45 (19:45 UK)
Ta` Qali Stadium, Valletta (A)
Att: 15,609
Referee: Yevhen Aranovskyi (Ukraine)
Scotland started their World Cup qualification campaign with a trip away to minnows Malta. After only 6 minutes, Robert Snodgrass came close with a shot that went just over the bar. Three minutes later, Snodgrass floated a ball in from the right, that deceived the keeper and ended up in the back of the net to give Scotland a 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Malta equalised. Gareth Sciberras played a ball into the box for Alfred Effiong to head past David Marshall. Midway through the first half, Snodgrass almost put Scotland back on top, but his header from a Callum Paterson cross was saved. Eight minutes before half time, Grant Hanley should have put Scotland ahead when he headed a Matt Ritchie free kick past the post. Eight minutes into the second half, Scotland went back in front, when Chris Martin knocked in a low cross from Matt Ritchie from the left. On the hour mark, Andrew Robertson played a low ball into the middle for Chris Martin, who failed to make contact. To most people's amazement, the referee then reached for his back pocket and pulled out a red card for Jonathan Caruana of Malta, and pointed to the spot for what must have been a clip on Martin as he ran through. Snodgrass stepped up and placed the ball in the bottom right corner, while sending the keeper the wrong way. With 12 minutes remaining, a Matt Ritchie cross from the right was deflected to Steven Fletcher who headed it past the keeper to make it 4-1. Six minutes later, Matt Ritchie played a great ball through to Steven Fletcher, who rounded the keeper, before hitting the bar. The ball then fell into the path of the on running Snodgrass, who controlled the ball before slotting it home for his hat-trick. A minute into injury time at the end, Malta had a second player sent off when Luke Gambin kicked out at Snodgrass. It was a good result to start the campaign, but the performance could have been better.