Stuart Armstrong opens Scotland account in win against Lithuania

Scotland’s World Cup hopes remain alive following their convincing 3-0 win over Lithuania in Vilnius.
The Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong scored his first goal for his country via a Leigh Griffiths corner in the 25th minute and Liverpool’s Andy Robertson curled in a glorious second five minutes later at the LFF Stadionas.
The second half was only occasionally fraught before James McArthur made it 3-0 from close range in the 72nd minute to clinch three valuable Group F points.
Scotland are third, four points behind Slovakia who face the leaders, England, on Monday. Gordon Strachan’s men host Malta on the same night and will now fancy their chances even more of finishing second and sealing a play off spot.
“I’m very proud,” said Armstrong of his goal. “It was a good ball from Griff to begin with.
“From there we controlled the game and managed to get an important three points. We’re all really pleased with how the night went.”
Griffiths came close to giving Scotland the lead with a curling free-kick. Moments after that came joy when the Celtic striker sent a corner to the back post and his club team-mate Armstrong sent a bullet header past Lithuania’s keeper, Ernestas Setkus, for his first goal for the national side.
It was the breakthrough the visitors desperately wanted and they doubled their lead on the half-hour mark when Robertson took a pass from Forrest and, from the edge of the box, curled a left-footed shot high past the flailing Setkus.
Some slack play from Scotland towards the end of the half offered encouragement to the home side, who had momentarily looked deflated. But the interval allowed the visitors to settle and they looked more composed after the restart.
A terrific delivery from the tireless Robertson in the 52nd minute found Griffiths at the back post, but he could only return the ball with his right foot into the side-netting.
In the 71st minute Armstrong again burst through the middle of the home defence before bringing a decent save from Setkus, who parried his left-footed shot. But the third was only moments away. A minute later a quick throw-in by Matt Ritchie set up Griffiths and, when he rolled the ball to McArthur, he dinked it in from a few yards out to clinch the points.
Chris Martin came on for Griffiths in the 79th minute to offer a more physical approach and he tested Setkus with a powerful drive in the closing moments when the game was effectively over.
It was thought that Scotland would need four wins from their last four fixtures. The first has been taken care off. Next up: Malta.

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
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