Steve Clarke hails Scotland’s spirit after earning Nations League play-off

Posted Tuesday, November 19, 2024 by PA

Scotland manager Steve Clarke hailed the belief in the squad that kept their Nations League survival hopes alive following another late winner.

Captain Andy Robertson headed home John Souttar’s cross three minutes into added time to earn the Scots a 2-1 win in Poland which moved them above their hosts into third place in Group A1.

Scotland now have a two-legged relegation play-off to look forward to in March against one of the runners-up from the second tier after taking seven points from their last three games.

Clarke said: “The more you play at this level the better you get. We started with three defeats, three narrow defeats with good performances.

“The players didn’t lose belief, I didn’t lose belief in the players. They end up taking seven points from the last three games, which gets us into that play-off.

“The more you play at this level, the more you learn how to win the games. That’s what we’ve proved.

“I’m really pleased for the players, I’m really pleased for the staff, I’m really pleased for the supporters.

“It’s a good way to end this part of the Nations League campaign, obviously we’ve got a bit longer now that we’ve managed to secure a play-off. I look forward to the games in March.”

John McGinn followed up his winner against Croatia with a third-minute strike in Warsaw and both Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay hit the frame of the goal in an open first half.

Poland levelled with a powerful strike into the top corner in the 59th minute from Kamil Piatkowski but Scotland kept chipping away until their captain produced the goods to mark his 80th cap with his first international goal in five years.

“You always believe it,” Clarke said of the late winner. “It was a very open game, we gave them a lot of chances.

“So we always felt that maybe one more chance would come, maybe not from the source it actually came from.

“Fantastic cross from John Souttar, who was outstanding defensively, and Grant Hanley. Fantastic cross, great header from the captain and a nice way to finish the game.”