Analysing Scott's Scotland scoring streak

Wednesday 21 June 2023 12:24

Scott McTominay just cannot stop scoring for Scotland so we decided to take a closer look at his international feats.

The Manchester United midfielder took his tally in this European Championship qualifying campaign alone to five with the clincher in the 2-0 win over Georgia on Tuesday night.

Our no.39 drove home in a fixture interrupted by heavy rain at Hampden Park to sign off for the 2022/23 season in style. It added to his braces against both Cyprus and Spain and he also netted in the same competition against Israel, a dramatic 94th-minute winner, back in 2020.

So how does this compare to other Reds, in terms of shining for Scotland over the years?

Scott McTominay salutes his latest strike for Scotland.

Overall, Scott has now moved above ex-United men Gordon McQueen, Lou Macari, Gordon Strachan and Darren Fletcher in the goal charts as they each have five to their name. Sir Alex Ferguson managed four in his four caps.

McTominay's six from 41 caps is still some way behind Joe Jordan (11) and, of course, Denis Law (30). Indeed, the legendary King of the Stretford End is the joint-leading marksman for his country, alongside Kenny Dalglish. However, not all of their efforts came while at Old Trafford.

Jordan scored only twice for Scotland during his spell in Manchester, one of them coming at the 1978 World Cup finals against Peru. In contrast, all bar five of Law's goals were during his United days, although a large chunk (23) came in the British Home Championship (which was a much-respected competition) and friendlies.

Yet things do look rather different if we only consider, first of all, the European Championship. McTominay's five goals in the competition means he is ahead of fellow United men Darren Fletcher (3), Gordon McQueen (3), Gordon Strachan (2), Joe Jordan (2), Brian McClair (1) and Ted MacDougall (1).

Aston Villa's John McGinn is top with eight in Euro qualifiers, one ahead of Kenny Miller, but we are still halfway through this campaign, with four games to go, for our Academy product to keep finding the net as Steve Clarke's side look to extend their superb 100 per cent record in Group A.

It would be remiss of us not to look at World Cup qualifiers and Law has five goals in these, while other ex-Reds to feature on the list include Joe Jordan (3), David Herd (2), Darren Fletcher (1), Jim Holton (1), Brian McClair (1), Lou Macari (1), Willie Morgan (1) and Gordon Strachan (1).

Jordan has four at the World Cup finals, while Strachan has another to add to his CV, an effort memorably celebrated against West Germany during the 1986 tournament in Mexico.

Combining the contributions for the two major international competitions, the World Cup and European Championship, provides us with the interesting table below of United men's contribution in front of the Tartan Army, including former defender McQueen, who sadly passed away recently and was afforded an emotional tribute before Tuesday's kick-off in Glasgow.

UNITED PLAYERS' GOALS FOR SCOTLAND IN MAJOR COMPETITIONS

9: Joe Jordan
7: Denis Law
6: Scott McTominay
4: Darren Fletcher, Gordon Strachan
3: Gordon McQueen

(Only includes World Cup and European Championship matches)

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