Norwich City climbed to within one place of the Championship play-off spots following a 3-2 victory away at Derby County and a hat-trick from Borja Sainz.

The result ended a run of nine straight home wins in the league for Derby, and it was the first time they have been beaten at Pride Park since February. Norwich, meanwhile, have now won three of their last four matches.

Norwich took the lead in the first half through Sainz in controversial circumstances, with the ball looking as if it had gone out of play during the build-up to the goal.

But Derby would not go down without a fight, equalising through Craig Forsyth on his 300th career appearance, as he fired past Angus Gunn from eight yards.

Just five minutes later, Norwich were back in front with Sainz hitting a bouncing ball from outside of the box and the Spaniard secured his hat-trick with another three minutes from time.

Derby got one back in stoppage time through Corey Blackett-Taylor, but were unable to force an equaliser.

Elsewhere, Sheffield Wednesday beat league leaders West Bromwich Albion 3-2 at Hillsborough to win for the first time in the league since the opening day.

Danny Rohl’s side were one up after nine minutes, with Darnell Furlong deflecting Marvin Johnson's effort past his goalkeeper. Josh Windass doubled their lead in the 23rd minute.

The Baggies got back into it after the hour, with Josh Maja heading in from a deep cross for his seventh goal of the season, and substitute Alex Mowatt dragged them level in the 84th minute.

But two minutes later, Anthony Musaba put Wednesday back in front for a lead they would maintain for the remainder of the match. The hosts climb to 16th, two points above the bottom three.

Blackburn Rovers maintained their 100% home record in the league with a 2-0 victory over QPR, who had Jonathan Varane, the half-brother of former Real Madrid and Manchester United defender Raphael Varane, sent off in first-half stoppage time for a late lunge on Danny Batth.

John Eustace's side struck twice in the second half to ensure their strong form rolled on.

Angus Gunn acknowledged Scotland let everyone associated with them down after Germany's 5-1 rout at Euro 2024 – but insists Group A progression is not off the cards.

Steve Clarke's team were humiliated on Friday in the tournament opener as Scotland suffered their second-heaviest defeat ever at a major tournament, after their 7-0 loss to Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup.

Antonio Rudiger's late own goal was the only thing the thousands of travelling Scots could celebrate, leading Gunn to apologise to all involved with the Tartan Army.

"We let ourselves down, our families down and obviously the fans, which is probably the most difficult to take," Gunn said in an interview published on Scotland's X account on Monday.

"It's down to us to bounce back now, and the good thing is that we've two more games to put it right, and we can still reach our target."

Clarke declared four points was the target before the European Championship started as Scotland aimed for their first-ever progression to the knockout stages of a major tournament.

Scotland will need to get results against Switzerland on Wednesday, and Hungary in their final group game four days later, if they are to hit Clarke's ambitions.

It appears a tough ask, too, as Scotland have won just six of their 33 matches at major tournaments (World Cup/Euros), a win rate of 18 per cent.

Among European nations with 25+ matches played at such tournaments, only Bulgaria (13 per cent – 4 from 32) have a poorer win ratio.

Gunn remains confident of an unlikely escape from Group A, however.

"We know what we have to do in terms of trying to get out of the group," the Scotland goalkeeper added.

"Obviously they [Switzerland] got a very positive result in their first game as well, so it's going to be difficult, but from our point of view, it's pretty straightforward."

Scotland managed to make it through a qualifying group for this tournament that included Spain and Erling Haaland's Norway.

Gunn wanted to remind supporters of his team's progression as negativity swirls around their opening-game performance.

"You look back at how far we've come, how well we've done to qualify, and you have to take belief from that," Gunn continued. 

"We've got to target two wins that can get us through the group, and if we can do that, we've reached our target."

Florian Wirtz needed only 10 minutes to spark Euro 2024 into life.

After a brilliant season for Bayer Leverkusen, in which he was named the Bundesliga's Player of the Season, Wirtz came into Euro 2024 as one of the standout youngsters.

His first-time finish to put Germany ahead in Munich on Friday, a cute side-footed effort that Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn could only help in off the post, proved why everyone is so excited to see how Julian Nagelsmann gets the best out of a player who scored 18 goals and set up 19 more in all competitions in 2023-24.

Wirtz's goal set Germany on their way to a 5-1 rout – the biggest win for a host in the opening match of a Euros in the tournament's history.

He was not the superstar of Germany's performance, though. His fellow youngster, Jamal Musiala, was spellbinding.

Having lashed in a wonderful second goal for the hosts, Musiala ran the show in the final third, and played a key role with a wonderful pass when super-sub Niclas Fullkrug made it 4-0 midway through the second half.

Musiala, who was the one bright spark from Germany's dismal performance under Hansi Flick at the 2022 World Cup, teased and toyed with Scotland. He attempted eight dribbles, completing five, had a game-high six touches in the opposition box and came out on top in nine of his 15 duels before he was replaced, fittingly perhaps, by the vastly experienced Thomas Muller.

The intriguing question ahead of kick-off was how Nagelsmann, the youngest-ever coach in the history of the Euros, would manage to get those two fantastic number 10s into the same team.

His answer was to dovetail the duo with an experienced midfield – Ilkay Gundogan (33) played ahead of Robert Andrich (29) and the imperious Toni Kroos (34) – and it worked a treat.

Wirtz is the youngest player to score the opening goal at a Euros, and the youngest player to net for Germany at the tournament. 

Once Musiala drilled home, Germany became the first team to have two players aged 21 or younger score for them in the same Euros match.

But it was not all about the flair of youth at the Allianz Arena, where the only blemish on Germany's copybook was an Antonio Rudiger own goal as Scotland mustered a meagre 0.01 xG and failed to have a shot on target.

Kroos, in the first game of his swansong, led the game for touches (108), and completed 101 (99 per cent) of his 102 passes. It was his crossfield pass that opened up the pitch for Joshua Kimmich to cut inside from the right and lay on Wirtz's opener.

Gundogan nipped around, linking the play; the Barcelona midfielder won the penalty from which Kai Havertz made it 3-0 – and which led to Scotland defender Ryan Porteous becoming the second Scottish player sent off at a major tournament, after Craig Burley in the 1998 World Cup against Morocco. 

At the back, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer made his 35th appearance at a major tournament. It saw the 38-year-old surpass Philipp Lahm as Germany's all-time appearance maker in the Euros and World Cup combined.

Indeed, for all the talk that Nagelsmann had gone with a relatively inexperienced squad for this home tournament, and that it could act as a way to build towards the 2026 World Cup, Germany's starting XI on Friday had an average age of 29 years and 22 days. 

That makes it Germany's oldest starting XI at a World Cup or Euros since 2000.

There was a healthy balance all around the pitch for Germany, as Nagelsmann became only the second manager to win by four goals in his first game at the European Championship, along with Lars Lagerback in 2004 (Sweden 5-0 Bulgaria).

And the men in the middle are worth a mention.

Havertz is no longer the bright new hope for German football, but the 25-year-old was hugely impressive as he led the line, providing the assist for Musiala and coolly converting his penalty.

Niclas Fullkrug, fresh from helping Borussia Dortmund reach the Champions League final, replaced Havertz around the hour mark. Soon after, he fired in a wonderful strike.

He will be playing a back-up role in this tournament, but he should not mind that. Three of Fullkrug's major tournament goals have been as a sub, a joint-record for a European nation, along with Hungary's Laszlo Kiss, Portugal's Rui Costa, and Germany's Andre Schurrle.

Fullkrug's club-mate Emre Can, a late call-up, rounded matters off late on. 

Germany have not always clicked under Nagelsmann, but they are clearly the best team in Group A and have the weight of a nation behind them.

Hungary and Switzerland will likely provide sterner tests than Scotland, though with a perfect blend of youth and experience, the hosts laid down a marker.

Leeds United thumped Norwich City 4-0 in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final to seal their place at Wembley.

After a goalless draw in the first leg left it all to play for at Elland Road on Thursday, Leeds turned on the style in front of a raucous home crowd to cruise into the final on May 26.

Ilia Gruev settled the majority of Elland Road's nerves with just seven minutes played as he caught out Angus Gunn with a long-range free-kick, curling into the space vacated by the Norwich goalkeeper's expectation of a cross.

Joel Piroe then doubled the hosts' advantage 13 minutes later, again capitalising on poor goalkeeping to beat Gunn to Wilfried Gnonto's cross and nod home.

The tie was effectively over five minutes from half-time, Georginio Rutter getting on the end of Crysencio Summerville's squared pass to rifle off the underside of the crossbar and in.

And after Gunn spilled Gnonto's low shot in the second half, Rutter cut the ball back for Summerville to poke home and secure Leeds' place in next Sunday's final, where they will meet either Southampton or West Brom.

Data debrief

Leeds may have looked pretty blunt in attack at Carrow Road, but that was far from the case on home soil as they put the Canaries to the sword in brutal fashion while keeping a 21st Championship clean sheet this season, more than any other side.

Daniel Farke's men produced 2.45 xG (expected goals) to Norwich's 0.51, while Summerville made it 20 league goals for the season, more than any other Leeds player.

Norwich took another tentative step towards the Championship play-offs as they came from behind to pick up a hard-fought point in a 1-1 draw with Bristol City.

The Canaries failed to make it nine straight home wins at Carrow Road but the draw took them level with fifth-placed West Brom and kept them six points clear of the chasing pack with games running out.

The in-form Robins created plenty of chances and deservedly took the lead early in the second half when Haydon Roberts finished off a slick move to score his first goal for the club.

But Norwich showed what they were made of by equalising from their next attack, Borja Sainz tapping the ball home after being set up for the easiest of chances by the Canaries’ top scorer Josh Sargent.

Both sides had their chances in an entertaining first half, with the visitors wasting the best of them after just 13 minutes.

Mark Sykes found himself with a clear run on goal after being fed by Scott Twine but, despite having plenty of time to assess his options, he was well off target as he clipped the ball over the advancing Angus Gunn.

Twine also hit the crossbar with a deflected free-kick as the Robins gave as good as they got, while at the other end Sargent saw an early shot come back off the woodwork after being picked out on the edge of the box by Sainz.

The Canaries almost took the lead in unlikely fashion two minutes after the restart when a low Marcelino Nunez corner ran along the line, with no-one in a yellow shirt able to get a touch.

But it was the visitors who took the lead on 56 minutes after putting together a slick move on the left. It started with Tommy Conway finding the overlapping Cameron Pring in space and ended with Roberts sweeping home in emphatic fashion.

Norwich found the perfect response however, equalising within a couple of minutes as a ball through the middle caught out the Robins’ defence, allowing Sargent to square for Sainz, who managed to stay onside to apply the simplest of finishes.

As the game opened up it took a superb reaction stop from Max O’Leary to keep out a stinging drive from the recently introduced Jon Rowe while Gunn had to be at his best to foil Anis Mehmeti when the ball broke kindly for the Robins’ substitute.

But both defences held firm as the game ended all square, a fair result for both teams.

Plymouth manager Ian Foster was furious with referee James Linington after his side lost 2-1 at Norwich to stay deep in the Sky Bet Championship relegation scrap.

The high-flying Canaries scored two second-half goals to take the points, after being stunned by Morgan Whittaker’s 10th-minute opener, his 20th of the season.

The second-half comeback brought Linington’s decision not to award a penalty to Plymouth when Alfie Devine went down under a challenge from keeper Angus Gunn under the spotlight, while the official’s insistence that Lewis Gibson went off before the corner that led to the winner was also a bone of contention.

“All we ask is that the officials make the right calls and that wasn’t the case today,” said Foster.

“I thought the referee got lots of decisions wrong and two of them were absolutely key decisions in the game.

“For me it was a clear penalty. Their keeper slid in, didn’t get the ball and took Alfie out – but he gave a yellow card to Alfie.

“For the corner there was a collision between two of our players and immediately the referee calls the physio on – he doesn’t ask if our player needed treatment, which he didn’t, he was fine.

“We have to accept responsibility for not defending set-plays properly – but it was still frustrating.

“I think the loyal fans who travelled all this way to follow their team would have been proud of the performance – I know I am.

“We have spoken about being more ruthless at the key moments in both boxes but overall there were a lot of positives to take from that.”

The match was settled by two goals inside seven minutes, both from right-wing corners.

The first was a set routine, with substitute Christian Fassnacht playing the ball low into the path of the deep lying Josh Sargent, who had the space he needed to sweep home his 14th goal of the season.

Regular taker Gabriel Sara then sent in a more conventional corner to the near past where Sam McCallum headed it on and a deflection off Ashley Phillips took the ball into far corner of the net.

It was a deserved win for Norwich, but relegation-threatened Plymouth gave the hosts a scare by taking the lead after just 10 minutes when Whittaker nodded home Matthew Sorinola’s cross to make it 20 for the season.

“It was a big win for us, especially after going behind so early,” said Norwich head coach David Wagner.

“In the first half I thought we played really well, we didn’t let the goal affect us and created lots of chances without being able to take them.

“In the second half we were not so good and sometimes over the course of the season you have to rely on your set-pieces, which we work on very hard.

“Overall it was probably not at the level we have shown over the past few games but once again the players have put in a shift, shown their togetherness to get the result we wanted.”

Paul Gallacher revealed how Zander Clark and Craig Gordon are pushing each other to new heights as he backed the two Hearts goalkeepers to go to Euro 2024 with Scotland.

Clark and Gordon are both currently with Steve Clarke’s squad preparing for friendlies against Netherlands and Northern Ireland, alongside fellow goalkeepers Angus Gunn of Norwich and Motherwell’s Liam Kelly.

The Scotland boss has said that – barring injury – three of those four will go to the Euros, and Hearts goalkeeping coach Gallacher would be “immensely proud” if he is waving both of his main men off to Germany this summer.

“They’ve both worked ever so hard to get to where they are, both for different reasons,” the former Scotland goalkeeper told the PA news agency.

“It’s a privilege to work with the two of them and I truly hope they both go to the Euros.”

Gordon, 41, was the undisputed number one for both Scotland and Hearts prior to sustaining a career-threatening double leg break 15 months ago.

Clark took the gloves at Tynecastle after Gordon’s injury and has held on to them since the veteran returned to contention in December.

The 31-year-old former St Johnstone keeper has kept 14 clean sheets in 30 league matches this term and also won his first three Scotland caps in the first half of the season.

Gallacher has been impressed with how both men have dealt with their respective challenges over the past year and a bit.

“Craig’s back, he’s absolutely back,” said the goalie coach. “You see him make saves every day in training and you just go ‘yep, that’s him back’.

“He’s got himself into a fantastic condition, he’s back to where he was before the injury. He’s top-notch, he’s world class at times, he really is.

“Obviously he’s not getting any younger but he keeps on pushing, and I think that’s pushing Zander on as well. You can see the level Zander’s hit. From where he was to where he is now is night and day.

“He was a good goalkeeper when he first came to the club but he has kicked on under severe pressure.

“Not a lot of folk could cope with that pressure of coming in to replace Craig Gordon, a Hearts legend, but he’s stood up and done it, which is no easy feat. That cannot be underestimated.

“There has been pressure on both of them but they’ve dealt with it brilliantly.”

Gunn appears to have become Scotland’s first-choice keeper since Gordon’s injury, but Gallacher is adamant both Hearts goalies would be perfectly equipped mentally and physically to play against Group A opponents Germany, Hungary or Switzerland in June if required.

“I know from working closely with them how the two of them can handle occasions,” said Gallacher, who won eight Scotland caps between 2002 and 2004.

“Zander, the way he’s playing, could handle it no problem at all. And Craig, with the number of caps he’s got (74), could be pitched in no problem at all.

“I know it might come across as biased but I’d have no qualms at all about either of them being in that starting line-up.”

Gallacher laughed off any notion that their mutual determination to play for club and country might have had a detrimental effect on the relationship between Gordon and Clark, who has been restricted to just three Scottish Cup outings since his rival’s return.

“They’re brilliant, honestly, there is no animosity whatsoever,” he said. “They’re great guys, brilliant to be around.

“But when they’re on that pitch, they push each other. They’re all about trying to improve and striving to be the number one for this football club.

“We are truly blessed to have two guys of that calibre battling for the number one jersey at Hearts.”

Craig Gordon is one of four goalkeepers included in the Scotland squad for upcoming friendlies against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

The 41-year-old has made three appearances for Hearts since recovering from a double leg break and has been recalled to join Angus Gunn, Zander Clark and Liam Kelly in the squad.

Callum McGregor, Jacob Brown and Aaron Hickey miss out through injury from the 25-man pool, which is two more players than allowed for this summer’s European Championship finals squad.

Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack is also absent after being hampered by fitness issues in recent months.

In-form Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland is included after netting against Georgia following his late call-up in November.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke is focused on finishing their Euro 2024 qualification campaign on a high after sealing their place in Germany amid a hat-trick of defeats.

A 2-0 loss in Spain was sandwiched by friendly defeats against England and France, but five wins from their opening five games in Group A proved enough for a second successive qualification for the European Championship finals after the Spaniards won in Norway.

With a five-month international hiatus to follow, Clarke is eager to ensure Scotland come away from their final competitive matches with points against Georgia and Norway before next summer’s tournament in Germany.

Speaking ahead of Thursday’s clash in Tbilisi, Clarke said: “The idea with the friendly matches against England and France was to test ourselves against the best and see where we measure up.

“Obviously with the results we had, we still have a bit of work to do. We will try to stay humble, respect our opponents and just try to improve all the time.

“Listen, we want to get back to winning ways. It’s not very often in the reign that I have had, apart from the early stages, that we have had consecutive defeats like we have had recently.

“It would be nice to think in the remaining two games we can pick up more points.

“I have always said we want to get as high a points tally as possible and (we have) two more games to try and do that.”

Scotland have lost their previous two games in Georgia, defeats which ultimately prevented them from qualifying for Euro 2008 and 2016.

Clarke’s side have shown the ability to break such negative runs, for instance securing the first play-off success and ending a 23-year wait for a major tournament appearance.

“Listen, in sport what’s past is past, there is nothing we can do to affect that,” Clarke said of the history in Tbilisi. “All we can do is affect the future, the next game we play.

“We have always tried to improve results no matter who we are playing against.”

Georgia lost 7-1 at home to Spain in September but they beat Cyprus 4-0 in their most recent qualifier and are assured of a Euro 2024 play-off place thanks to a Nations League campaign which included big wins in Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

Clarke said: “When you go away from home against a team like Georgia, it’s going to be a difficult environment, a difficult game for us, because they are a very good side.

“The one game they lost heavily was against Spain and that’s a little bit of an anomaly in recent games, because all their games have been very competitive. And we expect that on Thursday night.”

Clarke is without the likes of Angus Gunn, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Che Adams, but he hopes players such as Josh Doig and Lawrence Shankland can seize the opportunity that injury list presents.

“Over the course of my tenure I have always tried to look a little bit deeper,” he said.

“There will be some squads like this one where we have a number of players missing. But I always say it’s a chance for someone else.

“If everyone else can do better it makes my selection more difficult going into next year. The selection will be difficult. I have to find the right 23 for next summer.

“For now, some boys are in the squad with the chance to make a big impression, not just on me but the rest of my staff and the rest of the country. Let’s see how they perform in the game.”

Hearts goalkeeper Zander Clark and Motherwell captain Liam Kelly are vying for competitive debuts after both played 45 minutes against France to win their first caps.

Clarke, who also has Rangers reserve Robby McCrorie in his squad, was not giving anything away on his stand-in choice.

Speaking from Scotland’s training camp in Antalya, Turkey, he said: “The three goalkeepers have trained very well, as they always do, and between now and kick-off I will obviously have to choose one.”

Steve Clarke wants Scotland to use their final Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia and Norway to regain their momentum ahead of the finals in Germany next summer.

The Scots initially suspected they might need positive results from their last two games in Group A to qualify so organised a warm-weather training camp in Turkey at the start of next week to give themselves the best possible preparation ahead of their penultimate fixture in Tbilisi on Thursday.

However, after a blistering start to their campaign, they sealed their place at the tournament with two games to spare, so their main priority in the upcoming camp is to spark an upturn in results after successive defeats against England, Spain and France.

“We’ll be doing something similar to what we did when we went to Moldova (in 2021, when they had a warm-weather training camp in Spain), so we’ll leave early, on Sunday night after the games, and we’re going to stop off in Turkey and have a couple of days of hopefully warm weather there to break up the journey,” Clarke said at a press conference on Wednesday after naming his squad for the double-header.

“We identified these two games – Georgia away and Norway at home – as crucial games in the qualification process, but credit to the players, they’ve already qualified, so the games are not quite as crucial.

“But when you strip it back, we’ve lost the last three games, so we want to pick up a little bit of momentum going into the tournament next summer, so these two games are very important for us.

“It will be good to come here to finish the campaign with a home game against Norway and hopefully a good performance.

“It will be a chance for the crowd to thank the players and a chance for the players to thank the crowd. It will be a bit of a poor night if we don’t win the game, so let’s make sure we win the game.”

The 2-0 defeat by Spain in Seville saw Scotland relinquish top spot in Group A on goal difference. Spain finish away to Cyprus and at home to Georgia.

“I think to finish top is going to be very difficult,” said Clarke. “As I sit here now, it’s difficult for me to see Spain dropping any points from their last two games.

“We’ll just focus on ourselves and, if we can finish on the same points as Spain and they manage to top the group by an unfortunate slip from Aaron Hickey in the 2-0 defeat by Spain in Seville, we’ll take that.”

Scotland are missing four established starters for this month’s double-header, with goalkeeper Angus Gunn, captain Andrew Robertson, and fellow defenders Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey all injured.

Rangers defender John Souttar and Millwall forward Kevin Nisbet are the other notable absentees following their recent fitness issues.

Uncapped duo Josh Doig and Robby McCrorie, both of whom have been in previous camps, have been included, along with Celtic right-back Anthony Ralston.

“This is probably the toughest it’s been in terms of injuries in the last year or so,” said Clarke. “I remember in September last year we had to go to Ukraine in the Nations League with pretty much a shadow squad, but we dug in and got the result required.

“That’s what we’ll do this time. We can talk about the ones who are not here, but I always prefer to talk about the ones that are going to be here, so fingers crossed there are no more injuries before the squad meet up on Sunday.”

With first-choice Gunn missing with an injury he sustained for Norwich against Leeds last month, Motherwell’s Liam Kelly and Hearts’ Zander Clark, both of whom made their international bows in the friendly defeat by France last month, will vie to make their competitive debuts over the next two games.

“Obviously one of them is going to get a chance to play in the games coming up, so it’s a big camp for them,” said Clarke. “They know they have to impress.

“They’ve been in a lot of squads so they understand it and know the expectation around them. Hopefully they train well and are ready to play.”

Clarke included uncapped Verona left-back Doig after he was initially named in Scot Gemmill’s under-21 squad this week.

“Josh is doing well in Serie A, playing pretty regularly for his club,” said Clarke.

“He’s a good, athletic player who gets up and down the line. It will be nice to see how he’s improved and how he fits into the camp since we last saw him last September.”

Clarke insists he has not allowed his attention to turn towards his final 23-man squad for the Euros just yet.

“It won’t be a headache, it will be a difficult choice,” he said. “There’s obviously going to be a lot of people that want to be there.

“For me, it’s about not thinking too far ahead to picking the 23 because as this camp shows, injuries can turn up at any time.

“There’s a long way to go before the final squad is picked. Every game between now and the squad selection for the Euros next summer is a chance for somebody to impress so hopefully they take their chances.”

Angus Gunn insists Scotland still have eyes on topping their group after the 2-0 defeat by Spain on Thursday night delayed Euro 2024 qualification.

After winning their first five qualifiers, including a 2-0 win over the Spanish at Hampden Park in March, the Scots came up short in Seville after a controversial VAR call ruled out Scott McTominay’s terrific free-kick just before the hour mark.

Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk was sent to check his pitchside monitor and he ruled an infringement by Scotland defender Jack Hendry, with some confusion as to whether it was for a foul on goalkeeper Unai Simon or offside.

Alvaro Morata headed in after 73 minutes and substitute Oihan Sancet, making his debut, added a second with four minutes or normal time remaining to leave Steve Clarke’s men three points ahead of La Roja at the top of Group A having played a game more.

Scotland face France in a friendly in Lille next Tuesday while Spain take on third-placed Norway in Oslo two days earlier and if the Norwegians drop points, Scotland’s place in Germany next summer will be secured before games away at Georgia and home to Norway in November.

Norwich keeper Gunn, 27, remains confident and he said: “We have put ourselves in an unbelievable position.

“From our point of view we have done a lot of the hard work early on in the group and we want to finish it off in the right way.

“We want to top the group as well so we have two more games and it might happen on Sunday but even if it does, we go away to Georgia and still try to win this group.

“I will probably watch it on Sunday. If it happens, it happens but we still have two more games.

“We have put ourselves in a good position and if it does happen on Sunday we deserve it.”

The Scots had put up a sturdy defensive display against this summer’s Nations League winners and it looked like they might be on their way to a smash-and-grab win when McTominay’s free-kick from near the byline flew into the net.

Gunn believes the decision to rule it out lifted the Spanish fans and gave the home side the boost to go on and clinch the three points.

He said: “We thought we went ahead and that was an unbelievable feeling at the time and it was gutting when it got chalked off.

“I thought we dealt with it quite well but I think it gave them more of a boost.

“Their crowd celebrated it like a goal and I think they got their tails up a little but which we had to deal with.

“I think we kept our emotions quite well even though there wasn’t much clarity around the decision, that was the most disappointing thing.

“But they are a top team and they went up the other end and scored and after that the momentum was with them.

“We are disappointed with the result.

“But I said, we put ourselves in the position where we are still top of the group, still looking strong and hopefully still able to qualify soon.”