Steve Clarke’s Scotland side produced a strong second-half showing to beat Curacao 4-1 at Hampden in their final World Cup send-off friendly.
The win was Scotland’s first friendly victory at Hampden in a decade, coming after a difficult first half that saw them fall behind before Curacao were reduced to ten men.
Tahith Chong silenced the home crowd after 17 minutes with a stunning individual goal, sucking Scott McKenna into a challenge before turning him on the halfway line and bombing into the area.
Chong sold John Souttar a dummy and wrong-footed Craig Gordon with a marvellous left-footed strike to give Curacao a deserved lead.
Scotland’s lifeline arrived after 38 minutes when VAR intervened after referee Goga Kikacheishvili was sent to the monitor to review an incident involving Jurgen Locadia.
Miami striker Locadia caught Aaron Hickey on the jaw with a flailing arm and was shown a red card, swinging the contest firmly in Scotland’s favour.
However, Clarke was handed a concern when Billy Gilmour hobbled off before the break with what appeared to be a knee problem, the Napoli midfielder replaced by Findlay Curtis.
Less than five minutes after coming on, Curtis had netted his first international goal in only his second cap, feeding Kenny McLean before bursting into the box, taking one touch with his right foot and burying a low angled drive past the goalkeeper with his left.
Lawrence Shankland then fired Scotland ahead on 59 minutes, clipping a first-time effort past the keeper from Ryan Christie’s low ball after a short corner routine involving Kenny McLean.
Shankland’s second and Scotland’s third arrived just five minutes later, with Christie cutting inside and feeding substitute Lyndon Dykes, whose first-time pass teed up Shankland to drill an angled effort in off the far post.
Christie got himself on the scoresheet with nine minutes remaining, burying a penalty after Curtis had been clipped in the box to complete a convincing 4-1 victory.
Shankland’s double came in the same week he completed a move to boyhood heroes Rangers, with the 30-year-old described as the country’s most lethal striker last season having now demonstrated his sharpness ahead of the World Cup opener against Haiti.
Curtis, who finished the domestic season with four goals in his last four games on loan at Kilmarnock, was a constant threat throughout his cameo and will have forced Clarke into serious selection considerations.
Clarke went with a 4-4-2 formation featuring Shankland and Hirst as a front two, with out-and-out wingers Ben Gannon-Doak and Christie providing width, offering the manager attacking options he has not always had heading into previous tournaments.
Nineteen-year-old Tyler Fletcher made a second-half debut and looked comfortable in the middle, watched in the stands by his father Darren, adding another positive note for Clarke as the squad prepares to fly out across the Atlantic.
Curacao manager Dick Advocaat, 78, stood prowling at the edge of his technical area throughout, and will next month become the oldest manager in World Cup history when the tournament begins in North America.
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