Craig Gordon prepared for 'difficult' second leg as Nations League play-off against Greece 'in the balance'

Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon helped his side to a crucial 1-0 win over Greece in Athens, then warned that the Nations League play-off is far from finished.

Scott McTominay’s first-half penalty was enough to give Scotland a clear advantage going into Sunday’s second leg at Hampden, but the team had to defend for long spells in the second half to keep a hard-working and attacking Greek side at bay.

Gordon was quick to insist that he and his team-mates still have plenty to do to ensure that they win the play-off and retain their League A status.

“It is still a difficult game,” the Hearts goalkeeper said. “The tie is in the balance.

“You could see the quality that they have, so still another big performance needed.

“This is by no means finished, it will still be a very difficult one going into the second leg.”

On the occasion of his 80th international cap, the veteran goalkeeper was called upon a couple of times to preserve Scotland’s lead, though there was a collective effort to withstand the pressure from Greece as they chased an equaliser. Gordon admitted it looked “desperate at times” but was happy to reflect on an important result.

“It was a big win,” he said. “We had to work really hard, especially in the second half to hang onto it but there was great determination shown by everybody to grind out that second half and stay in the lead.

“We could have been more than one goal up at half-time. Maybe the second half would have panned out differently if we had managed to get further ahead.

“But give credit to Greece in the second half; they came out, put us under a lot of pressure, and it was a backs-to-the-wall performance that ground out the 1-0 at the end.

“The guys in front were chucking themselves in front of things; it was quite desperate at times.

“Sometimes you have to do that to keep the ball out of your net and I thought we did it very well in the second half.”