Robert Lewandowski scores again, this time for Poland

Gordon Strachan could not see past his pride and desperate disappointment for his players after Scotland’s European Championship hopes vanished in the cruellest of fashion.

Okay, things could get messy indeed if Robert Lewandowski gets a sight of goal and Ikechi Anya’s absence with a calf problem doesn’t exactly help, but over 90 minutes at Hampden with everything on the line the Scots will leave nothing out there.

Newcastle and QPR strikers past and present were left in awe of Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski after his brace for Poland against Scotland in Euro 2016 qualifying.

Strachan’s contract expires after Sunday’s final qualifier against Gilbraltar and the Scottish FA’s chief executive Stewart Regan confirmed in August he will hold talks with Strachan over his future then.

“No, I’d probably say that’s right…at least a wee bit”. “I watched the games and saw Martin, Fletcher, Griffiths scoring goals and that’s encouraging because we know that’s going to bring them here full of confidence”, he added.

“I had a lot of faith in my team”.

This is also a massively important game for Poland, who will qualify here if they win and Ireland fail to beat Germany.

Responding to Scotland defender Grant Hanley’s comments about making his presence felt against Lewandowski, the star striker said: “He’ll get a fast yellow card if he introduces himself like that and then we will play directly towards him”.

“If you work very hard, you get your luck”.

Poland arrive in Glasgow with a fully-fit Lewandowski, who made headlines around the world by coming off the bench at halftime on his return from a muscle injury to score a record five goals in nine minutes against VfL Wolfsburg last month.

Poland desperately threw men forward during the latter stages and did go close when Kamil Grosicki headed over from close range in the 87th minute.

Steven Fletcher put Gordon Strachan’s men ahead in the second half, but Lewandowski broke Scots’ hearts with an equaliser at the death.

Poland had trouble scoring after that though, and Scotland worked their way back into the match.

And, with a large Polish population in Scotland, there’s no doubting their fans will be cheering on their nation in their droves at Hampden.

The hosts drew level with a rasping left-footed shot from Matt Ritchie beyond the reach of Poland keeper Lukasz Fabianski on the stroke of halftime.

The second half started in explosive fashion with Marshall producing a superb one-handed save to deny Milik before Steven Naismith missed a golden chance as he failed to make a proper connection with Steven Whittaker’s cross.

Dorrans won the last of his 10 Scotland caps in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Croatia two years ago and had an informal agreement with Strachan to stay out of global contention until his club career was back on track.