Scott McTominay brands behaviour of Georgia players ‘a disgrace’

Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay branded Georgia’s players “babies” following a feisty 2-2 draw in Tbilisi.

Despite Scotland having sealed their Euro 2024 place and Georgia consigned to the play-offs, there was a real competitive edge to the qualifier, with three players booked on each side.

McTominay was involved in one of several flashpoints when he pushed Giorgi Kochorashvili to the ground after the Georgia midfielder was booked for scything him down and then tried to pull the Manchester United player up.

Several Georgia players went down for lengthy treatment and the time added on came back to bite the hosts when Lawrence Shankland headed a stoppage-time equaliser.

McTominay told Viaplay Sports: “Every game at this level is big and obviously they’ve got some really good players, but the way they were acting on the pitch I thought was a disgrace in terms of provoking the referee and it’s not the way it should go, but anyway that’s football.

“They should do something about people pretending they’re injured when they’re not.

“It’s a difficult one to call, but rolling around crying like babies is not football and we just wanted to get on with the game and play and do our best to try and win, whereas on the other side they were provoking the referee a lot.”

McTominay, who scored his seventh Euro 2024 qualifying goal to equalise just after the break, added: “There’s some disappointed heads in the dressing room, but I think it’s something we can build on, coming back twice.”

Late call-up Shankland, who replaced Che Adams in the squad, headed home from fellow substitute Stuart Armstrong’s cross.

“Obviously we were chasing the game that late and the gaffer opted to throw me on,” the Hearts striker said.

“There was quite a lot of pressure on their box when I came on, so it was just about being in and around the goal hoping for a chance to come and thankfully Stu’s hung a good ball up at the back and I’ve managed to attack it well.

“I think maybe me and (John) McGinn were going to the back post and thankfully I just managed to get above the defender.”

Half-time replacements Kenny McLean and Lewis Ferguson also made an impact as Steve Clarke’s side improved after a slack first half.

Shankland said: “I think the gaffer identified his problem at half-time and made a couple of changes. Just a few tweaks and things improved in the second half.

“We started the second half really well but conceded the second goal. From then on there was a lot of pressure in their box and we managed to get an equaliser which was important.”