Scotland ready to put Gibraltar under siege at Hampden Park

Scotland defender Gordon Greer has moved to dampen down expectations ahead of the European Championships qualifier against Gibraltar at Hampden Park.

UEFA’s newest member are bottom of Group D after four matches with no points and have shipped 21 goals including seven in the matches against Poland and Republic of Ireland, without getting off the mark themselves.

The Brighton player, however, tried to play down expectations of a landslide win and believes patience could be key against the Iberian minnows.

He said: “I think the pressure that is on us now is to break them down and score the goals because other teams have done that but ultimately it is all about just winning the game.

“Obviously, if you score a lot of goals in front of your home fans and everything is great, then it is a perfect afternoon.

“But these players are no mugs and for me it is all about winning the game and moving on.

Break them down

“It will be a difficult game and difficult to break them down and we are preparing as best we can.

Gordon Strachan’s side go into the game on the back of a 1-0 friendly win over Northern Ireland at Hampden on Wednesday night where it took an 85th minute header by substitute Christophe Berra to separate the teams.

Greer believes playing against such a stuffy side as the Irish were on the night was ideal preparation for a much more important game.

“The game the other night was a good test for us going into the Gibraltar game,” he said.

“At times we struggled to break them down in the final third but we will do our best to break Gibraltar down as early as possible.”