A closer look at four recent hat-tricks for Scotland

James Forrest netted a superb hat-trick on Tuesday as Scotland beat Israel 3-2 at Hampden Park in the Nations League.

It was only the fourth Scotland treble to have been registered since Colin Stein scored four times in the 8-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Cyprus at the same ground in 1969.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at each of those hat-tricks.

Steven Fletcher

March 29, 2015 v Gibraltar

Fletcher ended the long gap since Stein’s effort as Gordon Strachan’s men thrashed Gibraltar 6-1 at Hampden Park in a Euro 2016 qualifier. Following a shock equaliser from the away side, Fletcher – having last scored for his country six years earlier – made it 2-1 just before the half-hour mark with a header and notched two further goals late in the contest.

Steven Fletcher

October 11, 2015 v Gibraltar

Fletcher then netted another three times in a 6-0 win when the countries met again in Faro later that year. The striker scored twice in the space of four minutes just after the break, the visitors’ third and fourth goals, and added a fine 85th-minute third to make it 5-0.

Robert Snodgrass

September 4, 2016 v Malta

Snodgrass was the hat-trick hero as Scotland began their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup with a 5-1 away win against a Malta outfit who ended the game with nine men. The winger opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a fortuitous effort and subsequently put Strachan’s men 3-1 up with a 61st-minute penalty before wrapping up his treble with their fifth, calmly finishing as he followed up after Fletcher had hit the crossbar.

James Forrest

November 20, 2018 v Israel

After Alex McLeish’s Scotland went 1-0 down against the Israelis, Celtic winger Forrest twice slotted home in the first half then made it 3-1 in the 64th minute as he side-footed in from about eight yards out. His treble added to the brace he had scored in Saturday’s 4-0 away win over Albania.