Germany, Portugal win; Scotland cruise

World champions Germany earned a 2-0 win in Georgia and closed the gap on Poland who conceded a last-minute goal in a 1-1 draw with Ireland in their Euro 2016 qualifying group on Sunday.

Group rivals Scotland downed Gibraltar 6-1 to stay in the running, while elsewhere Portugal defeated Serbia 2-1 to go top of their group and there were wins for Romania, Northern Ireland and Albania.

First-half goals from Marco Reus and Thomas Mueller in Tbilisi made sure of the three points for Germany, who with Scotland advanced to 10 points from five games in Group D.

Poland are now one point ahead of both after a 1-1 draw at Ireland, who move to eight points.

"I was very happy in the first half, we combined well and were always heading towards goal," Loew said after Germany's comfortable win.

"In the second half we didn't keep our positions. Georgia stood very deep and didn't make it easy for us.

"What you can clearly see is that we have not scored enough goals. The constellation (in the group) is interesting. We will have the decisive phase in the autumn."

Poland led in Dublin thanks to Slawomir Peszko's 26th-minute strike, but Ireland grabbed a point right at the end when Shane Long scored from close range following a corner.

In Glasgow, Steven Fletcher scored a hat-trick, while Shaun Maloney converted twice from the spot and Steven Naismith was also on target for Scotland in an expected big win over rank outsiders Gibraltar at Hampden Park.

After scoring in the first half when Scotland led 4-1, Fletcher added two more in the 77th and 90th minutes for a first hat-trick by a Scotland player since Colin Stein netted four against Cyprus in 1969.

Gilbraltar could at least celebrate a first competitive goal when Lee Casciaro scored to equalize in the first-half for the international debutants.

"All the credit should go to Gibraltar," Scotland manager Gordon Strachan said.

"They made my life a misery for periods of the game, they made it long for me as a coach. So well done to them but also well done to our players. Some of them were having a poor game but they stuck at it.

"We can go into the second half of this group feeling quite good about ourselves."

Gibraltar's Scottish coach Dave Wilson said: "We had a period in the game where we achieved our aim of coming here to score a goal and create history and show that we don't just sit on our 18-yard line for long periods of the game.

"And in that period we were in Scotland's box three or four occasions. It was one of those never-going-to-last moments, but while it lasted I was enjoying every minute."

Group F leaders Romania and second-placed Northern Ireland both won to stay in charge in their group.

Romania moved to 13 points after edging Faroe Islands 1-0, courtesy of a 21st-minute goal from Claudiu Keseru.

Northern Ireland remained a point behind after overcoming Finland 2-1, both first-half goals coming from Kyle Lafferty before a stoppage-time strike from Berat Sadik in Belfast.

"I am not looking any further beyond our next qualifier against Romania, and that's our opportunity to go top of the group," Northern Ireland coach Michael O'Neill said.

"We have given ourselves a fantastic chance now and the game in June (against Romania in Belfast) becomes very important. If we win that game, it would be hard to imagine we won't qualify, with 15 points secure and four games left."

Hungary and Greece were goalless in the group, moving Hungary to eight points while the Greeks stay bottom on two.

Portugal went to the top of Group I with a 2-1 win over ailing Serbia. Ricardo Carvalho headed Portugal ahead, Nemanja Matic volleyed an equaliser after the hour only for Fabio Coentrao to net the winner two minutes later.

Albania came from behind to beat Armenia 2-1 to go level on seven points with Denmark, who were not in qualifying action, two points behind Portugal.

Israel play Belgium in a Group B match Tuesday. The next round of qualifiers is then June 12-14.