Earning only his third cap since
November 2012, the rejuvenated
Reds midfielder came on as a
71st-minute substitute for
Gordon Strachan's men as they
claimed a share of the spoils.
The Poles had started the
European Championship
qualifier as favourites having
beaten world champions
Germany 2-0 in a shock result
at the weekend to go top of
Group D. But the Scots had other
ideas and, as Fletcher watched
from the bench, they came back
from conceding Krzysztof
Maczynski's early goal to lead
2-1 just before the hour mark.
Shaun Maloney equalised and
Steven Naismith - Everton's
scorer in United's last match at
Old Trafford - later put Scotland
in front. With Strachan
understandably looking to
protect that advantage and close
out the win, he sent Reds
midfielder Fletcher on in place of
namesake Steven Fletcher, the
Sunderland striker. The plan was
foiled five minutes later when
Arkadiusz Milik drilled home
Poland's leveller but the United
man still contributed as the
Scots held onto the 2-2
scoreline.
Fletcher's former club colleague
John O'Shea was also involved
in a Group D draw and
dramatically so, as it was the
ex-Red himself who rifled in the
Republic of Ireland's equaliser
against Germany, thus marking
his 100th international
appearance in style. Scored
away from home in injury time,
the goal will have evoked
memories for some of O'Shea's
most famous strike for United -
the winner at Liverpool in March
2007
No comments:
Post a Comment