Six-star Scotland cruise, Germany beat Georgia
First-half goals from Marco Reus and Thomas Muller lifted Germany to a comfortable, if not impressive, 2-0 victory over Georgia in their UEFA 2016 Group D qualifier.
Reus swept home a loose ball in the 39th minute before Muller doubled the world champions' advantage just before half-time with a lucky rebound for his fifth goal in qualifying. Joachim Low's men had chances for more and never looked in danger of conceding, but it was still not the most inspiring of performances from a side who have struggled notably since lifting the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
They are now on ten points, along with Scotland, who overcame the ignominy of becoming the first side to concede a competitive goal to Gibraltar to thrash the minnows 6-1. Shaun Maloney's 18th-minute penalty was almost immediately cancelled out by Lee Casciaro as UEFA's newest members briefly threatened to provide a major upset.
But the Scots regrouped and Steven Fletcher struck after the half-hour before another Maloney penalty and Steven Naismith's strike took them out of sight before half-time. Fletcher struck twice late on to become the first Scotland player to net a treble since Colin Stein hit four against Cyprus in 1969.
A single goal from Claudiu Keseru was enough for Romania to see off the Faroe Islands and remain top of Group F. The Al-Gharafa forward struck in the 20th minute and though there were other opportunities for the home team, an improved Faroes defence restricted them to a 1-0 scoreline.
Romania thus remain a point ahead of Northern Ireland, who defeated Finland 2-1 thanks to a brace from Kyle Lafferty, with substitute Berat Sadik scoring an injury-time consolation for the Scandinavian side.
In Group I, Mergim Mavraj and Shkelzen Gashi scored in the final 13 minutes as Albania claimed a 2-1 win over 10-man Armenia, who went ahead through Yura Movsisyan but had Hovhannes Hambardzumyan sent off to turn the clash in their opponents' favour.
Poland saw their lead at the top of Group D cut to one point after being held to a 1-1 draw against Republic of Ireland, who sealed a share of the spoils thanks to substitute Shane Long's injury-time strike. Slawomir Peszko's 26th-minute opener had looked to be enough to keep the Poles in the driving seat for one of the two automatic spots, but Long's intervention denied them at the death in a classic game of two halves.
Goals from Ricardo Carvalho and Fabio Coentrao sealed a 2-1 victory for Portugal over Serbia in Lisbon as they went top of Group I. The visitors had levelled matters thanks to Nemanja Matic's spectacular overhead volley, but Coentrao struck almost immediately afterwards following a Portuguese break.
Finally, Hungry and Greece played a goalless draw, which does neither side many favours in Group F.