Two first half goals from Stuart Armstrong turned things around for Steve Clare’s Scotland side against Armenia who had Hovhannisyan sent off just before the interval. Scotland had fallen behind in the early stages of the game and looked a shambles defensively for the first ten minutes before the former Celtic midfielder played the crucial Get Out of Jail Free card for the former Kilmarnock boss.
Hovhannisyan was fortunate to be playing at all after remarkably escaping retrospective UEFA action for throwing a water bottle at the assistant lineman last week at Hampden.
Scotland opened brightly after the break with John McGinn and Che Adams both adding decent goals. After that Lewis Ferguson joined the Celtic Bhoys, Anthony Ralston and David Turnbull in a triple substitution, but the steam had gone out of the game with Scotland well ahead playing against ten men.
Late drama with another Armenian called Hovhannisyan being sent off for a terrible tackle on McTominay, the Armenian then faced up to the nearest Scotland player but unfortunately for him that was Tony Ralston. He looked relived to be saved by the referee’s red card.
It finished Armenia 1 Scotland 4 with this doing something to repair the goal difference lost in Dublin at the weekend.
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