Scotland 3-1 Greece: Lewis Ferguson lives his dream with first Scotland goal

Lewis Ferguson reflected on a fulfilled dream after netting a first international goal in Scotland’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over Greece.

The Bologna midfielder shot high into the net to put Scotland ahead for the first time in the game with 10 minutes left.

The 26-year-old, whose previous goal came in a 2-2 Serie A draw with Roma in January, said: “I feel like I’ve not scored for such a long time, so it was nice to see it hit the back of the net and get my first goal for my country. Such a proud moment.

“It’s everyone’s dream. When you’re growing up, first and foremost it’s to play for your country, and then to score for your country.

“Just such a proud moment and just so happy to finally get it. My 19th cap, so it’s been a long time coming.”

Ferguson did not quite get the chance to wheel away and lead his own celebrations as Grant Hanley embraced him from behind.

“I was just wanting big Granty’s hand off me,” the former Hamilton and Aberdeen midfielder joked. “I was getting choked out. I was trying to run, but Granty definitely wasn’t letting me go, so I just had to try and save my life and stop.”

Scotland had fallen behind in the 62nd minute but levelled within 120 seconds through Ryan Christie before the home fans finally got the chance to relax when Lyndon Dykes capitalised on a goalkeeping error in stoppage time.

Ferguson said: “The first 50-60 minutes we probably weren’t at our best, never really got close to them, never made contact with them.

“They’re actually a really good team, you can see that, the way they move the ball and pick up spaces in between us, they make it really difficult.

“It was tough out there but you talk about team spirit, digging in, a bit of character. Going 1-0 down at home, you felt the energy just being sucked out of the stadium when they scored the goal. The way we responded was fantastic.

“We were a bit more aggressive. You need to do that when you’re 1-0 down at home, that’s a given.

“But to react and score so quickly was fantastic, and then you feel the energy back in the stadium, and then you sort of get the feeling that you’re going to win the game. And thankfully we did that.”

The first two Scotland goals came via set-pieces, which proved to be their main threat all night.

“It’s just such an important part of the game now, and we work on it,” Ferguson said. “We go into a lot of detail during the training sessions.

“We don’t get a lot of time between meeting up and playing the game, so, we need to be focused in training, take on the detail and the information and try and carry that out, and I think we’ve been a good threat from set pieces.”