John McGinn bags a hat-trick as Scotland hit San Marino for six in a Hampden deluge

• Scotland 6-0 San Marino

How many times in this Euro 2020 qualifying campaign has the Tartan Army offered a collective prayer for the experience to be cut short? Yet, in a perverse reversal of circumstance, the 20,000 fans who turned up at Hampden Park saw a game that should have been abandoned because of a pitch that became unplayable early in the second half, yet sustained a contest which established a clutch of distinctions by the time it had run its sodden course.

San Marino have been semi-permanent residents at the foot of Fifa’s world rankings for many years and were thrashed 9-0 in Belgium on Thursday, but over seven previous meetings since 1991 the Scots had averaged only 3.5 goals per game. In this instance, John McGinn was almost at that mark with three by the interval – his first professional hat-trick - and he was joined in the reasons to be cheerful by Lawrence Shankland, with a goal on his first international start.

Stuart Findlay also found the net on his debut, to became the first Kilmarnock player to score for Scotland since Tommy McLean against Wales in May 1979.

With tickets priced at £30, the Scottish Football Association might consider devoting some of the proceeds to striking medals for each of the devoted supporters who trudged through the torrential rain which began on cue an hour prior to kick-off and which fell unremittingly until beyond the break. So intense was the downpour that by the interval players were trailing visible wakes of spray, prompting the unwelcome speculation that the pitch might become untenable if conditions continued to deteriorate.

By that stage, the fans had been rewarded by the spectacle of a Scotland player celebrating multiple goals. It had taken McGinn 15 games to notch his first at this level, the opener in what became a 2-1 defeat by Russia at Hampden last month but only 12 minutes of this game to get his second.

Ryan Christie – one of six players either brought in or restored to the side after Thursday’s 4-0 mauling by Russia in Moscow - provided the set-up with a curling probe across the six-yard box. In truth, at first sight it seemed that the Celtic midfielder had threaded the ball inside the far post on his own account, but TV replays confirmed that McGinn was entitled to his celebration, having just edged his boot on to the ball.

The Scots achieved a comfort margin, much needed after tribulations against Russia and Belgium, when Scott McTominay’s deflected low shot was palmed by Aldo Simoncini into McGinn’s path for a simple score on the rebound. The Aston Villa midfielder made it 3-0 just before the interval when one of many corner kicks – the Scots had amassed 10 after half an hour – was nodded on to him by Findlay for a scoring strike on the turn.

By this stage, the monsoon conditions were exceeding Hampden’s drainage capacity, to Clarke’s concern. “It was difficult to pass the ball,” he said afterwards. “We moved the ball really well and very fast in the early part of the game, which got us in front.

“We wanted to do that in the second half, but obviously it started sticking in the puddles. We still managed to find the right passes in to the box and got some good goals.”

By the hour mark, indeed, there was significantly more water on the pitch than had been the case when the Scotland rugby team met Japan in Yokohama, in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis earlier in the day. Provision had been made for a Monday morning replay at 11 am, at Hampden if possible, or at St Mirren Park if the national stadium should be ruled out.

Perhaps daunted by the prospect of beginning all over again in Paisley – with no guarantee of more clement conditions – Jerome Brisard allowed play to continue, despite the fact that the ball was sticking in puddles in conditions that constituted a clear hazard to the players’ safety. The balance of what fluent play was possible continued to favour Scotland, who went four goals ahead midway through the second half McTominay when rasped a shot off the crossbar and the ball plopped on the ground perfectly for Shankland to slot it home.

Within 90 seconds it was 5-0 as Findlay rose to meet another corner with an unopposed header. The rout was completed when Stuart Armstrong, a late call-up to the squad and a late substitute, arrowed a perfect free kick home from 22 yards.

“It’s not often a Scotland team score six goals,” said Clarke. “It’s a nice reward at the end of a difficult week. They've got character and resilience. They were on a hiding to nothing tonight. They showed the character to come back from a bad blow.”