Scotland 3-1 Greece: Grant Hanley says win was a reward for Scotland showing character

Scotland defender Grant Hanley says the team had to show character to earn a vital win over Greece – and now need to follow that with victory against Belarus.

After taking four points from their first two World Cup qualifiers, Scotland were hoping to take momentum into Thursday’s match at Hampden but were outplayed by Greece for the majority of the first half and fell behind when Kostas Tsimikas scored just after the hour mark.

Scotland hit back instantly with a Ryan Christie goal before Lewis Ferguson made it 2-1 and, after some nervy moments, Lyndon Dykes made sure of the win with a goal in injury time.

Hanley felt the result was testament to the attitude within the squad and the effort they showed even when it looked like the chance of valuable points might be slipping away.

“We’re delighted with the result,” the centre-back said. “The boys showed loads of character, as we have done before.

“There’s been periods when this squad has had difficult moments but to come through it and get a result shows what the squad is about.

“Early in the first half we were poor and didn’t really get to grips with it but it was 0-0 at half-time and we had to remind ourselves of that. We were still right in the game.

“It probably felt like the shackles came off after we conceded and we started to play.

“I’m not sure we can say for certain we deserved to win the game but we stuck in and I think it’s our reward for the togetherness of this group.

“That’s what you get when you keep a squad together.

“Obviously there’s different players that come and go at different times but there’s certainly been a core of players there for a while now. I think that comes from the manager and the staff and what the lads want to try and create.”

With Scotland level on points with Denmark, but in second place on goal difference, Sunday’s home game against bottom seeds Belarus now takes on huge significance and Hanley feels that the win over Greece will only prove to be important if it’s followed with another three points.

“It’s a big result,” he said. “Every result is a big result.

“But it’s important not to get too far ahead of ourselves and it’s only a big result if we back it up on Sunday.”