Scotland boosted their chances of snatching second spot in the World Cup Qualifying Group F when they eased past Malta 2-0 at Hampden Park last night.

The win lifted the Scots to just one point behind second-placed Slovakia who slumped to a 2-1 win against England at Wembley Stadium.

On the other hand, Malta remained rooted to the bottom of the group after suffering their seventh successive defeat.

Scotland started strongly and on six minutes Stuart Armstrong dispossessed Ryan Fenech and his low drive flashed just wide.

Scotland’s pressure produced the opener on nine minutes when Griffiths’ delivery from a corner found Christophe Berra at the far post and his downward header gave Hogg no chance.

The home side kept coming and on 13 minutes, Armstrong sped into the area and his drive hit the side netting.

After that early flurry of chances, Malta grew in stature as they started to contain more their opponents forays and in fact Scotland had to wait until a minute from the break to threaten again with Berra’s long-range strike was blocked in two attempts by Hogg.

The hosts could not have hoped for a better start to the second half when Tierney burst through from the right and his low cross was deflected by Morrison onto the upright and Griffiths was on hand to tap the ball home.

Hogg denied Scotland a third goal on 55 minutes when he pushed away Forrest’s low drive.

Malta were unlucky not to pull a goal back on 75 minutes when Joseph Zerafa sped into the area, turned past his marker and his low drive was fisted away by Gordon. Effiong was first on the rebound but his shot again blocked by the Scottish custodian.