Harry Kane marked his first England appearance wearing the captain’s armband by snatching a point against Scotland at Hampden Park.
Two late free-kicks from Leigh Griffiths cancelled out an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain strike and looked to have the Three Lions on the way to their first defeat in Group F.
But their bid to reach the 2018 World Cup was kept on track by Kane’s dramatic intervention.
Roared on a vociferous home crowd, the hosts showed heaps of intent in the early stages but the first real opportunity of the match fell to England in the 18th minute, with Eric Dier chipping a ball into the feet of Tottenham Hotspur team-mate Kane in the box, but the skipper could only blaze high over the bar.
Kane also found himself in a promising position with 23 minutes on the clock but just could not shift his body quickly enough to convert after Adam Lallana wriggled to the byline and squeezed a ball across the face of the Scotland goal.
As the half wore on, the visitors began to increasingly turn the screw and when Craig Gordon rushed off his line, Kane had a long-range lob cleared off the line by Kieran Tierney before a Marcus Rashford shot on the turn was deflected away by Christophe Berra.
With England continuing to dominate possession, Lallana sold his defender a dummy with five minutes of the first half remaining and cut into the area, but his left-footed strike whistled into the side-netting.
Jake Livermore also opted to try his luck from range in the 43rd minute, with Scotland keeper Gordon forced to punch away his left-footed piledriver, but the home goal remained unbreached at the break.
In the second half, the Scots were first to threaten, with frontman Griffiths cutting the ball back for full-back Andrew Robertson, but he spooned his strike high and wide.
Kyle Walker was then forced to hold his nerve to cut out a dangerous cross from Ikechi Anya just past the hour-mark but up the other end of Hampden, Gordon was kept honest by Kane’s snap header from a Ryan Bertrand delivery.
England’s breakthrough would arrive with 70 minutes on the clock and just shortly after he was introduced to replace Rashford, Oxlade-Chamberlain darted into the box from the right flank.
The wideman’s progress was not halted by the Scotland defence and Brown could not prevent the Arsenal man's left-footed snapshot from finding its way into the net.
Scotland skipper Scott Brown was lucky to escape a second booking for a heavy challenge on Dele Alli and, as the visitors looked to wrap things up, they were handed a shock by Griffiths.
The Celtic frontman stepped up to let fly from a set-piece some 30 yards from goal and fired an expertly-struck free-kick past Joe Hart to tie things up.
Then, with just a minute to go, Scotland won another free-kick in an almost identical position and Griffiths repeated the trick to turn the contest on its head.
The drama was not done there however, and in added time, Raheem Sterling drove a cross toward the far post, where the unmarked Kane volleyed home with aplomb.
England: 1 Joe Hart, 2 Kyle Walker, 6 Gary Cahill, 5 Chris Smalling, 3 Ryan Bertrand, 4 Eric Dier, 8 Jake Livermore, 7 Marcus Rashford, 10 Dele Alli, 11 Adam Lallana, 9 Harry Kane (capt)
Substitutes: 20 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Rashford 65, 19 Raheem Sterling for Alli 83, Defoe for Livermore 90+5
Substitutes not used: 12 Kieran Trippier, 13 Fraser Forster, 14 Jesse Lingard, 15 Ben Gibson, 16 John Stones, 17 Phil Jones, 21 Aaron Creswell, 22 Tom Heaton, 23 Jack Butland
Manager: Gareth Southgate
Goals: Oxlade-Chamberlain 70, Kane 90+3
Bookings: Livermore 44, Dier 60
Scotland: 1 Craig Gordon, 2 Kieran Tierney, 4 Christophe Berra, 5 Charlie Mulgrew, 3 Andrew Robertson, 8 Scott Brown (capt), 6 James Morrison, 10 Robert Snodgrass, 7 Stuart Armstrong, 11 Ikechi Anya, 9 Leigh Griffiths
Substitutes: 13 James McArthur for Morrison 45, 20 Ryan Fraser for Snodgrass 67, 19 Chris Martin for Anya 81
Substitutes not used: 21 Jack Hamilton, 12 David Marshall, 18 Russell Martin, 23 Mark Reynolds, 15 Barry Bannan, 16 Darren Fletcher, 22 Tom Cairney, 17 James Forrest, 14 Steven Naismith
Head coach: Gordon Strachan
Goals: Griffiths 87, 89
Bookings: Brown 3
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento
