Tierney and McLean send Scotland to World Cup with thrilling win against Denmark

Hampden Park has hosted seismic occasions in a storied history dating back to 1903. Add this one to the list. Scotland’s long, long wait is over. You yearn for almost three decades to return to the men’s World Cup and do so with an overhead kick, a 22-yard stunner and a goal from the halfway line.Steve Clarke, Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay, John McGinn; you shall go to the ball. So too Kieran Tierney, whose magnificent strike in stoppage time would have made all the headlines before Kenny McLean notched Scotland’s fourth. McLean broke forward, spotted Kasper Schmeichel in a state of desperation, and floated the ball over him. McLean was in the middle of the pitch when he shot. Cue bedlam. Cue wonderful bedlam.So many years of frustration, when Scotland’s men have peered towards World Cups from afar, were obliterated as the 10 Denmark players fell to a defeat that felt unlikely for so long. Grown men in kilts shed tears. Denmark’s participation in next summer’s jamboree depends on playoffs next March. Clarke can start making plans, once he recovers from leading the celebrations here.PhD students could produce work on how on earth Scotland achieved this qualification. They appeared down and out at times, including on Saturday when they lost in Athens. It was almost as if someone, somewhere had decided the Scots had suffered for long enough. Tierney’s intervention was an extraordinary one. McLean’s? Something else. Clarke has become the first manager in history to guide Scotland to three tournaments.Kieran Tierney curls in Scotland’s crucial third goal in the third minute of added time. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PAThe night had supposedly opened in difficult fashion for the hosts. John Souttar, who had been due to partner Scott McKenna in central defence, was injured in the warm-up. Grant Hanley took Souttar’s place. Any sense of disruption was banished within three minutes.Ben Gannon-Doak jinked and weaved on the right. The Bournemouth winger’s floated cross should have been tricky for McTominay. He was facing away from goal, for starters. But the Napoli midfielder catapulted himself into the air and planted an overhead kick beyond the reach of Schmeichel. This famous old place erupted, not simply in recognition of the opening goal but the special circumstances in which it arrived.McTominay was like a man possessed. Gannon-Doak looked electric. Scottish danger resonated in attacking too ferociously; Craig Gordon saved from Rasmus Højlund after the Denmark striker was sent clean through on goal. The offside flag was raised but Højlund may well have survived a second check were it required. As Mikkel Damsgaard flashed a ball across the Scotland goal and McKenna blocked well from Victor Froholdt, the Scots were in a battle to maintain their advantage.Gannon-Doak had panicked the Danes with his pace. It felt a significant blow to Clarke, then, when the winger overstretched when looking to block a cross. Gannon-Doak departed the scene on a stretcher after just 20 minutes.Scott McTominay opens the scoring for Scotland with a bicycle kick in the third minute. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PAHøjlund soon had the ball in the net but was penalised for a push on Aaron Hickey. By the half-hour, Scotland were living far too dangerously. Yet they reached the break unscathed. Scotland were even denied a great chance of a second goal, Rasmus Kristensen taking out McGinn, earning a booking, after the midfielder capitalised on Danish slackness.Højlund forced Gordon into a smart, low save within 90 seconds of the restart. Given Denmark needed only a draw, the flow of traffic right from the onset of the second period felt ominous for the hosts. Scotland were succeeding – to a point – in breaking up Denmark attacks but promptly handing the ball back to those in red.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionWhen the equaliser arrived, it did so with the whiff of cordite. The referee originally saw nothing wrong with Robertson’s challenge on Gustav Isaksen, which took place on the angle of the penalty area. Indeed, it appeared Isaksen flung himself into the air. After being advised to look again by the video assistant referee, Szymon Marciniak pointed to the spot. Højlund smashed home. Parity was the least Denmark deserved but Scotland had cause to be sore about the circumstances.All this action-packed encounter lacked was a red card. It arrived on the hour, Kristensen’s second foul of the night on a marauding McGinn bringing another caution. Now Clarke twisted by throwing on the strikers Lawrence Shankland and Ché Adams.The move was to pay dividends. Denmark’s defending of an inswinging Lewis Ferguson corner was shambolic, allowing Shankland to strike from all of a yard. The Hearts man, introduced for his predatory instinct, demonstrated precisely that.Scotland had no time to build on their advantage. Within three minutes, Patrick Dorgu stroked home after Andreas Christensen laid the ball into his path 12 yards out. This time Scotland had been overly generous, Tierney’s defensive header rebounding back into Danish possession.Adams flicked a header wide. McGinn’s curling shot just missed the upright. Enter Tierney. Enter McLean. Wow.