Scotland midfielder John McGinn credited Liam Cooper’s vocal encouragement and some respite from the sun as sparks for their unlikely Oslo comeback along with their “phenomenal” substitutes.
McGinn admitted Scotland had barely posed a threat before goals in the final four minutes from Lyndon Dykes and substitute Kenny McLean earned a 2-1 victory over Norway.
Cooper had come on for the fatigued Kieran Tierney not long after Erling Haaland had put the hosts ahead with a 61st minute penalty and McGinn was inspired by the defender’s rallying cries.
The Euro 2024 qualifier had begun in heat of about 30 degrees and Scotland were struggling to get back in the match but the arrival of McLean, Stuart Armstrong and Billy Gilmour and a change of tactics helped turn the game.
McGinn was pushed further forward and had a hand in both goals but he was quick to praise Cooper.
“Coops is a leader, he has been captain of Leeds for a long time now,” the Aston Villa skipper said.
“He came on and he was screaming ‘just one chance, we only need one chance’. And that just filtered through.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was roasting, but the shade started coming in towards that end and I don’t know if it suited us but we got a wee bit of energy from somewhere.
86 Norway 1-0 Scotland 87 Norway 1-1 Scotland 89 Norway 1-2 Scotland
Relive these two magical minutes of football from last night
— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT)
“And a mistake at the back from them and Dykesy is alert and capitalised and from there the momentum is with us.
“From nowhere really. They will be feeling a little bit hard done by, they were the better team during the game. But I thought our subs were phenomenal.
“We played all right, we were in a good shape, we weren’t letting them create many chances but we weren’t doing anything in the game.
“Credit to every single sub, they were frightening. The manager said before the game, it’s always hard picking a starting 11 because of the strength and depth we have, which we didn’t have before.
Morning
