John McGinn ‘couldn’t be prouder’:

(And quite right too.)

And that’s all from me. Thanks for reading. Much excitement over on the US Open tennis blog, where Elina Svitolina and Leylah Fernandez are deep into a deciding set:

Bye!

As Paul Doyle points out, Ireland’s late equaliser via an own goal keeps alive their faint hopes of qualification for Qatar in 2022:

Andy Hunter’s match report is here after a heartening and important win for Scotland against Austria:

Lyndon Dykes, Scotland’s match winner, talks: “It was a massive win. We came here to win the game, and we done that, so we should be proud ... We’ve been together, we’re always a tight group ... we’ve always, each camp, got stronger and stronger ... another game tonight, it was tough, it was long, we held out to the end of the game, and that shows the togetherness we’ve got.

“We always defend from the front, and defend as a team ... they’re a really good side, they’ve got good players ... we held on from there [after the goal] and it was a good night. I was aiming [the penalty] for where it went... I was just happy to see it hit the back of the net ... it wasn’t one of my best ones, but at the end of the night, it went in, and it was 1-0 at the end of the night, so I’ll take that.”

Somewhat unpleasant scenes in the stadium in Vienna: Alaba and Arnautovic have gone over the Austria fans, many of whom look very angry with the result and performance. Shouting matches all round. A few minutes ago there was a lingering shot of an Austria fan making a well-known rude gesture from the stands, for which the Sky Sports presenter Eilidh Barbour apologised.

Craig Gordon. the Scotland goalie, speaks to Sky Sports: “That was huge for us. A great performance away from home ... we knew we needed to take something from the game, but to get the three points is huge for us, in this group. I felt comfortable all night, the guys in front of me were absolutely superb all night, chucking their bodies in front of things, we defended the box really well when we had to, and limited them to very few opportunities. The one that came through, I managed to keep out, but I’ve got to give huge credit to the guys in front of me who were outstanding all night ... On another night we could have got a few more goals, but we kept a clean sheet ... there wasn’t a single man who let us down and that’s what we need to get points away from home.”

Nice words, and even nicer performance.

“Always trust the Love Hearts. They knew all right,” roars Scotland fan Simon McMahon on email. “I love you, Scotland. Be mine!”

Hug me!

Baktiyor Zainutdinov grabbed the late leveller for Kazakhstan against Bosnia & Herzegovina in a 2-2 draw. He and the team celebrated accordingly:

The Euros may ultimately have been a bit disappointing, but that result tonight is ample proof of all the progress Scotland are making under Steve Clark. A really professional, composed win – solid in defence and, crucially, clinical in attack when it counted (even if nit-pickers might have asked for a 2-0 or 3-0 win given the chances Scotland created).

In all the excitement, I missed that Kazakhstan grabbed a late equaliser in Group D v Bosnia-Herzegovina, and drew 2-2. Croatia also scored a third in a 3-0 win against Slovenia and Turkey nabbed a consolation in a 6-1 mauling by the Netherlands.

Alaba, mercifully from a Scotland point of view, curls that free-kick over the bar.

Austria have the ball in Scotland’s net! But it’s ruled out for offside! Four mins of stoppages to play, one of which has gone already. And now Scotland cough up a free-kick right on the edge of the penalty area for handball, by Ferguson. Looked harsh, but there it is.

Scotland are two minutes plus stoppages away from a sizeable win.

Wow! All happening in Vienna. Craig Gordon makes a belting save from point-blank range. Scotland stream down to the other end and Adams angles a shot just wide of the far post! So close!

In Vienna, O’Donnell just burst through one-on-one with Bachmann. He took his shot early - maybe a touch too early - but forced a decent save from the Austrian gloveman.

Memphis Depay celebrates his hat-trick goal for Netherlands v Turkey by nicking the match ball. He’s gone a bit early there, what with it being the 54th minute.

Meanwhile, in Vienna: half an hour to go and Scotland continue to lead by a goal to nil.

Outside of Europe: Iran have beaten Iraq 3-0 away from home. Iran top their qualifying group with two wins from two matches.

Phew. Half-time scores below. Scotland have turned in a superb performance in Vienna in the first half and lead Austria 1-0. With Denmark 3-0 up against Israel, Scotland know that if they can win this, they will move second in Group F.

Ireland trail Serbia, France lead Finland, and 10-man Turkey are 3-0 behind against Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands outfit. See you in a few minutes for more.

I should have mentioned that the Scotland penalty came via a VAR check.

Hinteregger had already been booked, and he hauled down Adams in the penalty area with the Scotland forward looking to shoot, so surely he should have been sent off?

VAR-disliking Scotland fans suddenly like VAR, anyway:

Two in two for Lyndon Dykes. Here’s the penalty which he smashed low, hard and central, under Bachmann.

“Evening Luke. My pre-match packet of Love Hearts advised me to both ‘stay cool’ and ‘cheer up’,” writes Simon McMahon. “They know how this Scotland game is going to pan out, don’t they?”

I’m not sure I get that, but I like it.

“I’m afraid Gibraltar find themselves between a rock and a Haaland place,” chips in Peter Oh.

Before that goal for Serbia, Justin Kavanagh had emailed with this:

“Luke, can I ask you the favour of refraining from mentioning the Ireland score or the final result? It’s not that I’m recording it for later in the day or anything like that. I’d just like you — PLEASE — to refrain from mentioning the Ireland result.”

I can’t promise anything I’m afraid, Justin.

Serbia took the lead with 20 minutes gone when midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic got across his man at the near post to glance Dusan Tadic’s driven corner past Gavin Bazunu, who got a hand to the ball, but could not keep it out of his net. (PA)

“Given what Austria are wearing, one imagines that Steve Clarke won’t have had much to say before kick-off than “Lads, it’s Arsenal”,” observes Charles Antaki. That would have been an interesting psychological ploy.

“The France-Finland match is quite intriguing in that Finland, having only played three matches, is in control of their destiny,” emails Matt Burtz. “If they win all their games, they finish on 20 points, which would also involve beating France twice. So actually, one win and one draw against France also puts them in a very good position, and even one win and one loss wouldn’t be crippling, because then France could only finish on 15 points, and Finland would have four other games in which to amass eight points to get to 16. As you can see, I’ve thought too much about this.”

I warmly welcome such deep thinking on group permutations, Matt. Thanks.

“I’m afraid I didn’t get the Eilidh Barbour reference about Good Night Vienna,” emails Robin Hazlehurst. “This means nothing to me.”

In Vienna, Lyndon Dykes leaps like a salmon and powers a header goalwards, but it’s beaten out by Bachmann. In keeping with the match so far Austria stream down to the other end immediately. It’s very, very lively.

A high-octane start in Vienna. Austria enjoy a short spell of possession, pressing Scotland back, before a storming run from John McGinn takes the visitors down to the other end of the pitch. He loses control of the ball just outside the area and the move comes to nothing. Positive signs, it seems, but Austria immediately stream down to the other end and Alaba has a sight of goal, but hesitates, and the chance is gone. End to end.

The players are literally out on the pitch at the Ernst Happel Stadion, and we are being treated to a blast of ‘Flower of Scotland’ right now. Alaba and McGinn, the respective captains, toss a coin, bump fists and exchange flags. We’re ready to go.

I will be focusing on Austria v Scotland in this ’ere clockwatch but will of course endeavour to bring you goal updates from all tonight’s matches.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh – formerly of Brighton, now of Feyenoord in the Eredivisie – has just put Iran 1-0 up away against Iraq, after just three minutes.

“Scotland are looking for a good night in Vienna,” says the Sky presenter Eilidh Barbour. I see what she did there! Like it.

The Scotland manager Steve Clark speaks to Sky, pitch side in Vienna: “We have a good team on the pitch ... we need a good performance and with that hopefully will come a good result. We’ve got to relax on the finish and make sure we take some [chances] tonight.

“I believe if we get a good performance we can get a result tonight ... when we have the ball, play on the front foot, be aggressive and try to create chances.”

Kick off in tonight’s 12 matches is 15 minutes away.

Don’t forget, you can get in touch with me by email or Twitter if you so desire.

You can keep an eye on all the live scores here.

If you missed it, here’s Paul Doyle’s report from Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan on Saturday:

Steve Clark speaks to Sky Sports in a pre-recorded interview: “It’s been difficult ... the introduction to the week with the Covid issues and the injuries ... it hasn’t been an easy camp ... we had to beat Moldova at home, we’ve done that, we need to get a positive result against Austria. It’s going to be another interesting day in the life of this group.”

“It would have been nice to get the second goal the other night and see if we could relax on the third and fourth finish ... but when the game’s tight like that, you can tighten up a little bit, and I think that’s what we’re doing ... they just need to go into the game and relax a little bit. When a chance comes along, just relax, and hopefully we can score a few more goals.”

And here’s Andy Hunter’s match report from Scotland’s 1-0 win against Moldova on Saturday:

Here is Andy Hunter previewing Scotland’s potentially crucial match in Vienna: