Scotland didn’t miss the Tartan Army too much as they picked up a crucial World Cup qualifying win against Belarus.

The fans who made the trip to Hungary were locked out of the ZTE Arena, with the hosts ordered to play games behind closed doors in a neutral venue due to the country’s support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

It was quiet but Steve Clarke’s side made their presence felt as Scott McTominay fired wide before Billy Gilmour’s effort was turned onto the post.

Che Adams stabbed home from McTominay’s header just before half-time with Zakhar Volkov nodding Gilmour’s ball into his own net in the second half to secure the victory.

Scotland go into the home double-header against Greece and Belarus at Hampden Park next month with four points from six on the road, two clean sheets and the chance to build on a strong start, while Denmark’s 3-0 win in Greece also takes them on to four points but with a slightly better goal difference.

Solid start has Scotland on track

After a demanding evening in Copenhagen, Clarke freshened his side up as winger Ben Gannon Doak came in with Max Johnston, Scott McKenna and Billy Gilmour also starting.

In the 15th minute of a game that harked back to Covid times, there was a penalty shout when Gilmour went to ground inside the Belarus box under a challenge from Kiryl Pechenin but Montenegrin referee Nikola Dabanovic was not interested.

At the other end, a header from Pechenin required a save from Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

The match was warming up and Gilmour, defender John Souttar and midfielder Scott McTominay all had various efforts on the Belarusians’ goal – and the Napoli midfielder claimed unconvincingly for a penalty when he clashed with Yegor Parkhomenko inside the Belarus box – but the opener would not come.

With half-time approaching, Gannon Doak set up Gilmour and his powerful drive from 20 yards was tipped on to the post and away by Fyodor Lapoukhov.

The Belarus ‘keeper was eventually beaten when John McGinn’s searching delivery to the back post was headed back by McTominay with Adams bundling the ball in from a yard out, his first goal since scoring a hat-trick against Liechtenstein in the June friendly.

A second goal was needed to ease the nerves which surfaced with sporadic Belarus attacks and it came when the luckless Volkov redirected a header from Gilmour’s cross into his own net.

If not resigning themselves to defeat, Belarus did little to suggest there would be a comeback with McGinn and Adams testing their defence and goalkeeper late on.

There will no doubt be tougher tests to come before Scotland are able to book their place in the World Cup finals for the first time in 27 years.

‘Nice to go home with a smile on your face’

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke told BBC Scotland:

“It was a tough night. I expected the reaction Belarus gave. They started big guys and filled the middle of the park.

“We kept prodding, doing what we wanted to do. The message was just to stay patient and we managed to do that.

“It’s a good start, a solid start. Four points will never qualify you for anything. It’s nice to go home with a smile on your face, but I’m already thinking about next month.

“Billy [Gilmour] and Ben [Gannon-Doak] are two players who excite the public. My job is to pick a team to win the game. Both of them did very well.

“Clean sheets are what we have to build our campaign on.”

Robertson: Patience paid off

Scotland captain Andy Robertson told BBC Scotland:

“Job done. That’s the best way to describe it.

“We knew they would try to be a bit more secure and defensive. We just had to be patient and got the goal at the perfect time just before half-time.

“We could have had more, but a job well done.

“When they’ve changed their shape, it takes a wee bit of time to figure out what’s going to work. Once we got through with a great goal, we just wanted to stay professional and thankfully got the second goal.

“The gaffer put [Ben Gannon-Doak] on the left so I could look after him, but he doesn’t need much looking after. He wants to take people on and his decision-making was good on the whole.

“We put in some shift on Friday and had to freshen it up. The four that came in were excellent. We need the full squad if we’re going to qualify.”

Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers

• Greece (H) – October 9
• Belarus (H) – October 12
• Greece (A) – November 15
• Denmark (H) – November 18