Football: Scotland 2 Moldova 0

Scotland recorded their first win under Walter Smith on Saturday, defeating Moldova 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park. Smith's pre-match hopes of mounting a late charge towards Germany 2006 seemed forlorn after a goalless first 45 minutes.The Scots enjoyed plenty of first-half possession but found chances hard to come by as the Moldovans defended in numbers in the Group Five clash.

The Tartan Army's anxiety was allayed just eight minutes after the re-start, however, when Christian Dailly, on as a first-half substitute for the injured Jackie McNamara, broke the deadlock. Lee McCulloch made it with some strong play down the left that saw him slip the ball past Valeriu Catinsus before hanging a cross into the six-yard box. It should have been a routine take for Evgheni Hmaruc but the goalkeeper made a terrible misjudgement of the flight and could only tip the ball skywards allowing West Ham defender Dailly to stab home from very close range at the far post.

The hosts did not use this advantage to make the game safe and suffered some hair-raising moments in the closing stages as the visitors grew in purpose and confidence. But Craig Gordon's defence remained resolute and a second substitute, James McFadden, made sure of the result with seconds remaining in normal time. He scored his sixth goal in his last 13 internationals after good work from Kenny Miller opened up the visitors' defence leaving the Everton forward the simple task of racing into the area and firing beyond Hmaruc's despairing right hand.

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yer, at least we won and i think thats us 3 poins away from them at the bottom now.

if we didnt win that though that would be pretty lame.

good to see McFadden score though

Should have been more.

we played Belarus, and we stinked.

most of the players in that team, would be lucky to play in the Championship division

The talent is just not there anymore, which is a shame because every top side had a few Scots playing for them.