GERMANY got its Euro 2016 qualifying campaign back on track with a hard-fought win, while there were also victories for Portugal and Scotland.

    Marco Reus and Thomas Mueller scored late in the first half to give Germany a 2-0 win over Georgia in Tbilisi, and goals from Ricardo Carvalho and Fabio Coentrao gave Portugal a 2-1 win over Serbia in Lisbon to move top of Group I .

    Romania and Northern Ireland are way ahead of their Group F rivals after home wins over the Faeroe Islands and Finland, respectively.

    World Cup champion Germany got its qualifying campaign back on track with its first away win in Group D and moved within a point of leader Poland, which was held to a 1-1 draw by Ireland.

    Ireland substitute Shane Long scored in injury time in Dublin, canceling out Slawomir Peszko’s 26th-minute strike to leave the group finely poised after five rounds. Unbeaten Poland leads with 11 points, followed by Scotland — which routed tiny Gibraltar 6-1 — and Germany both on 10, while Ireland maintains slim hopes of emerging from the group with eight points.

    In Tbilisi, Reus scored in the 39th minute when he was free to scoop the ball inside the near post and Mueller sealed the result five minutes later with his fifth goal in qualifying. Georgia was pegged back for long periods in Kakhaber Tskhadadze’s first game as coach.

    In Glasgow, Lee Casciaro scored Gibraltar’s first ever goal in a competitive match to cancel out Shaun Maloney’s 18th-minute penalty, but the Scots answered with five unanswered goals.

    In group F, Romania and Northern Ireland tightened their grip on the top two places in Group F, while Greece showed signs of improvement in a 0-0 draw against Hungary.

    Claudiu Keseru’s 21st-minute goal was enough for Romania to beat the Faeroe Islands 1-0, while Northern Ireland moved a step closer to appearing in a first major tournament since 1986 by beating Finland 2-1.

    (SD-Agencies)