Pedro Porro all-but secured a place at the World Cup with Spain on Saturday.
Our right-back played the first half of a thumping 4-0 win in Georgia which put them three points clear of second-placed Turkey at the top of Group E with a goal difference of plus-14.
That means they’ll advance to next summer’s tournament finals barring a heavy defeat to the latter side in their last qualifier on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Pedro’s fellow defender Kevin Danso was influential as Austria took a giant step towards securing a place at the World Cup for the first time since 1998 with a 2-0 victory in Cyprus.
The centre-back completed the full 90 minutes, earning a clean sheet and providing the assist for his side’s second goal – scored by Marko Arnautovic, his second of the game – as they picked up three points to put themselves on the brink of qualifying for next year’s showpiece.
They would have been assured of a place on the plane had Bosnia-Herzegovina failed to beat Romania on Saturday evening, but a 3-1 win for the former means Austria must either win or draw against them at home on Tuesday in order to cement their spot in the sole automatic qualifying place in Group H.
In addition, Brennan Johnson came off the bench in the 83rd minute as Wales saw out a slender 1-0 win in Liechtenstein to stay on course for a second-place finish in Group J. They still need to beat North Macedonia at home on Tuesday to secure a home play-off semi-final in the New Year.
In friendly international action in London, Brazil beat Senegal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium. Pape Matar Sarr started for Senegal but had to be substituted four minutes into the second period, while Richarlison remained on the bench for Brazil.
In youth international action, midfielder George Feeney started and played 75 minutes for Northern Ireland Under-19s as they defeated Azerbaijan in a European Under-19 Championship qualifier in Malta.
Young full-back Oscar Sandiford played 90 minutes for England Under-17s as they drew 1-1 with Ivory Coast in the second of three matches in Dubai. As previously reported, that wasn’t the only England Under-17 action on Saturday – Luca Williams-Barnett was part of the Young Lions side that beat South Korea 2-0 in the round of 32 at the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar.