Blaise Matuidi’s late strike steered France to a 3-2 victory over Holland on an emotional night at the Amsterdam Arena.

Poland manager Adam Nawalka has warned Scotland and the Republic of Ireland that they will have to cope with “the best striker in the world” in Robert Lewandowski as the Group D qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 reaches its finale.

With Gibraltar v Ireland on September 4 regarded by many – if not Martin O’Neill – as a foregone conclusion, there will almost be as much interest from Irish supporters in the Georgia v Scotland and Germany v Poland games which also take place in European Championship Group D on the same day.

Watford and Southampton are still searching for their first Barclays Premier League wins of the season after playing out a scrappy goalless draw at Vicarage Road.

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths and Dundee ‘keeper Scott Bain have been called up to the Scotland squad for their Euro 2016 qualifier against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on June 13.

Scotland 1 Northern Ireland 0: A late header by substitute Christophe Berra gave Scotland a narrow but deserved 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in their Vauxhall International Challenge match at Hampden Park.

The Premier League transfer window opens on Saturday morning and closes at 11pm on February 2.

Celtic boss Ronny Deila insists retention rather than recruitment will be his priority when the January transfer window opens.

EURO 2016 GROUP D QUALIFIER:

EURO 2016 Group D Qualifier

Poland 2 Scotland 2

Steven Naismith believes his Everton team-mate Aiden McGeady has the guile to ensure Ireland go one better than Scotland in next month’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Germany.

On the same night a Glaswegian gave Scotland’s Euro 2016 Group D play-off rivals a boost in Tbilisi, how Gordon Strachan could have done with Aiden McGeady’s wizardry against World champions Germany.

Scotland put up a spirited show in their first Euro 2016 qualifying match, going down 2-1 to world champions Germany.

Poland 0 Scotland 1

Man City 4 Watford 2

Mario Balotelli fired Italy to next year’s World Cup finals as the Azzurri came from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in Turin last night.

Macedonia 1 Scotland 2

Billed as the richest match in world football, it was an occasion which demanded a calm and experienced head.

Leicester 1 Watford 0

Watford 1 Leeds 2

Cardiff’s lead at the top of the npower Championship was cut to five points by Hull after the Bluebirds were beaten 2-0 by Brighton.

Derby 5 Watford 1

Blackburn boss Steve Kean suffered another setback in his bid to win over his doubters as Rovers crashed out after a 2-1 defeat at League One MK Dons in tonight's second round of the Capital One Cup.