Luca Toni's superb hat-trick helped the Azzurri win 4-1 against Belarus on Wednesday while Scotland's 2-0 defeat of Norway, enabled Italy to restore their five-point cushion at the top of the table with two games left to play.

Italy's manager Marcello Lippi was heavily criticised for his team's failure to beat the Scot's at the weekend and after being told of the result in Oslo he wasted no time in answering the Press "Have you seen what Scotland did,they aren't as weak as everybody said after all," blasted the 57-year-old.

Of his own team's impressive display, he said: "It was a big step forward. We played great football for an hour and scored four goals. I couldn't have asked for more.We have to mention Toni, who was great, but the rest of the team made sacrifices, especially his strike partner Alberto Gilardino."

The result means Italy need just two points from six to be mathematically certain of going to Germany next summer.
"Now we need a point or two to qualify and I couldn't be happier," beamed hat trick hero Toni, who joined Fiorentina from Palermo this summer after scoring 50 goals in his two seasons with the Sicilian club.

Mauro Camoranesi grabbed the other goal for the Italians who had to show some determination to get back into the match after falling behind to Vitaly Kutuzov's fourth-minute strike.Italy's remaining two games are both at home, against Slovenia on October 8 and against Moldova four days later.

Scotland's manager Walter Smith could hardly conceal his joy following his team's 2-0 victory over Norway in Oslo, which gives Scotland a once undreamed of, realistic chance of qualifying fro their group, the result all but ruined Norway's chance of automatic qualification."We hoped for maximum points from games against Italy and Norway and got four and we would probably have settled for that as we now have a chance," he said, "I thought it was a terrific performance by everyone. Norway are not the easiest side to play against as they have such a physical presence, but we handled it."

Scotland are now two points behind Norway and Slovenia, who are joint second after Slovenia's 2-1 win away to Moldova.

Smith's side could have been in an even stronger position if they had not lost an equaliser to Italy with 15 minutes remaining at Hampden."We were disappointed on Saturday when we dropped a couple of points against Italy and Norway scored in the last minute tonight," he said. "But this win makes up for Saturday and brings us back up again and that's an important factor for us. It gives us a chance going into the last two games. The goal at the end was one which could come from a lot of pressure, but we showed a great deal of commitment to handle a very difficult situation".

"The first goal was a real striker's goal for Kenny after a good move by us, the ball was knocked down by James McFadden and he showed a great instinct. For the second, he took advantage of an error and put it in.He might have had a hat-trick if he hadn't been injured".

"In the second half, we were always going to be under pressure and I'm really happy we managed to handle that." Miller had scored against Italy and was the goal hero again, but the Wolverhampton Wanderers striker put the victory down to good defending."The team performance was incredible again, especially the defence," he said.

"That's what got us the result."We've come here for the three points and the team have done it."We have to rely on other people now if we are to qualify, but you never know." Scotland captain Barry Ferguson has targeted wins over Belarus and Slovenia."Since Walter has taken over, the confidence is high and everyone is working so hard and now we're starting to play the football that we want," said the Rangers midfielder.

"Come next month, we'll definitely be going for six points as we did in these last two games." How much Scotland may rue Italy's late equaliser at Hampden Park remains to be seen, but at least they are in with a shout, the Tartan Army's dream lives on!

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