Stuart Armstrong double helps Scotland hit back to beat nine-man Armenia 4-1

Stuart Armstrong hit a double as Scotland overcame a difficult start to beat nine-man Armenia 4-1.

Scotland fell behind early on in Yerevan and endured some anxious moments after Armstrong’s quickfire equaliser. But the midfielder scored in first-half stoppage time, moments after Arman Hovhannisyan had committed two yellow-card offences in the space of five seconds, and Scotland made the most of their advantage.

John McGinn and Ché Adams were on target early in the second half as Scotland sealed six points from their opening three Nations League games before the hosts had another man sent off in stoppage time.

Steve Clarke, the Scotland manager, had been left scratching his head over his side’s 3-0 defeat in Dublin on Saturday and three of his defenders did not make the 2,500-mile journey – the captain, Andy Robertson, John Souttar and Scott McKenna.

Scott McTominay was restored to the back three beside Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry, who lined up on the left, while wing-backs Nathan Patterson and Greg Taylor came in along with Billy Gilmour and Armstrong.

Ireland had struggled in the Yerevan heat when they went down to Armenia in the Group B1 opener but conditions were fine for Scotland in the Republican Stadium thanks to the 8pm local kick-off time, a breeze and a pre-match downpour.

Armenia rarely ventured forward in their 2-0 defeat at Hampden last week but they showed much more attacking ambition in the opening stages and went ahead inside six minutes.

Hanley looked favourite to win the ball out wide but he misjudged his challenge and fell over to leave Tigran Barseghyan to race to the byline and cut it back for Vahan Bichakhchyan to finish at the near post.

Gilmour soon had a shot pushed over after a short corner and